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Parkway's Emmery Temple (6) is congratulated by coaches and teammates after singling home Meg Henkle in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Coldwater 5-4 on Thursday.
ROCKFORD - Trailing Coldwater by three runs in the bottom of the seventh, Parkway had just one option: battle back.
The Panthers tied the game at 4-all on Meg Henkle's two-run single, then in the ninth, Emmery Temple singled home Henkle with the bases loaded to give Parkway a 5-4 victory in Midwest Athletic Conference softball action in Rockford.
"I'm super-proud how the girls didn't give up," said Parkway coach Trey Stover. "We had a gameplan coming into this game, and we executed it very well."
The win capped off a day where Parkway's plan was to simply not let Coldwater big hitters Madison Wendel and Claire Steinke beat them with their bats.
That meant for each of them, in all five trips to the plate, the umpire waved them to first for intentional walks.
"I have the utmost respect for Wendel and Steinke. Our gameplan was not to let those two beat us offensively," said Stover. "If somebody else does, we'll live with that."
The first two times, the plan paid off, as Coldwater left the bases loaded in the first and third innings. Then in the fourth inning, after a sacrifice bunt moved Ava Doll to second with two outs, Stover pointed to first for both Wendel and Steinke again, bringing up Rachel Schroyer with two outs and the bases full of Cavs.
Schroyer was down 0-2 in the count before taking Henkle's next offering to center for a grand slam to make it 4-0.
"We knew going in that was what (Parkway) was going to do with Madison and Claire," said Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens. "We talked about making them pay for doing that. It paid off once out of four chances, but it wasn't enough for us."
Brittyn Bruns pitched five innings of scoreless relief in helping Parkway defeat Coldwater 5-4 in nine innings.
Brittyn Bruns came on in relief of Henkle in the fifth and gave up a double to Avery Knapke, but then got the next three batters out.
Bruns did not allow a hit over the next four innings, striking out five and walking Wendel and Steinke twice each.
"Both pitchers came out and did what we told them to do: to get ahead of batters and make them swing the bat and use our defense," said Stover.
The five intentional walks for the pair tied the OHSAA record held by Parkway graduate Hailey Hawk when Newton walked her intentionally five times in the Division IV regional tournament.
Parkway got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when Madison Louth tripled and later came home on Paige Stephenson's grounder to short, as Stephenson reached on an error. Wendel stepped up and got the next three outs and worked out of jams in the fifth and sixth to keep her team ahead by three.
In the seventh, Bryn Schoenleben singled to right. Avery White then bunted her way on for a base hit, aand Bruns did likewise to load the bases. A passed ball brought home Schoenleben before Wendel got a strikeout to bring up Henkle, who took a 1-2 offering to center to score White and Bruns and send the game to extras.
"They battled back and never gave up," said Stover. "I love how the girls came together and did it as a team tonight."
Parkway's Meg Henkle (9) touches third base to force out Coldwater's Madison Wendel during Thursday's softball game.
Even with Wendel and Steinke walking in the eighth to put two on with one out, Bruns got a lineout that Temple snagged at short, followed by a force out at third to get out of trouble before throwing a 1-2-3 ninth. Parkway had a runner on third with one out, but Wendel worked out of trouble.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wendel got Bruns to ground out to second. Louth belted a single to left and stole second. Henkle blooped a double, but Louth had to hold at third.
Ahrens then intentionally walked Stephenson to load the bases. The plan worked initially, as Adria Miller grounded to short and the throw home was in time to force Louth for the second out. That brought Temple, who was 1-for-3 and had two strikeouts, to the plate.
Temple fouled off the first two pitches to make it 0-2 before blooping a single to right to score Henkle for the game-winner.
"I'm just so proud of her," said Stover of Temple. "She's grown so much, being just a sophomore and being with us last year. She learned how to handle adversity and came through in a big way."
Wendel finished the night allowing 14 hits and the five runs with just two walks, one intentional, and seven strikeouts.
"Madison threw her tail off again," said Ahrens. "She gave us a chance to win. Parkway is a great hitting team. Keeping them under wraps is hard."
Both teams are at home today in non-conference action. Parkway plays host to Indiana foe Adams Central and Coldwater takes on Lima Central Catholic.
