Baserunning calls cost QHS softball team critical outs in sixth, seventh innings of WB6 loss

QUINCY — Quincy High School softball coach Anjay Heinecke didn’t agree with the umpire’s calls, but there was nothing she or anyone could do to change them.

Those calls came in a one-run game in the sixth and seventh innings of the Blue Devils’ 5-4 loss to Western Big 6 Conference foe Rock Island Alleman on Wednesday. Both times, Quincy had the tying run at third base.

In the sixth, the Blue Devils had cut a 5-1 deficit to 5-4, and Kamryn Hlubek strode to the plate with Maggie Neally at third base. On a 3-2 pitch from Sydnee Ganahl, Hlubek hit a fly ball to center field. Neally tagged and raced home, appearing to score the tying run, but the field umpire called Neally out for leaving the base before center fielder Campbell Humphrey caught the ball.

When asked whether Neally left early, Heinecke was definitive in her answer.

“Absolutely not,” Heinecke said. “I waited until the ball touched the glove to say, ‘Go,’ and she did not leave until after I said, ‘Go.’ It is what it is. We can’t change what the umpire calls.”

Neally thought she had waited long enough to start her dash for the plate, but like Heinecke, she understood the finality of the umpire’s decision.

“I don’t think I (left early), but it’s the umpire’s call,” Neally said. “I just waited to hear my coach, and I went. I can’t really change anything about it.”

Another controversial call on the basepaths ended the game. With the Pioneers still leading 5-4, two outs and runners on first and third for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the seventh, Ariana Adorno took her secondary lead off first base after a 1-2 pitch from Ganahl to Avary Hlubek, the Blue Devils’ third-place hitter who had just homered the inning before. 

When Ganahl received the ball from catcher Kendall Possin, Adorno took a jab step toward second base before retreating to first. The field umpire deemed Adorno violated the “look-back rule,” which states that a baserunner must commit to advancing or returning to a base once the pitcher has control of the ball in the pitcher’s circle.

Heinecke has rarely seen this violation called.

“Maybe once or twice, and never to end a game,” Heinecke said.

Heinecke believes the rule was enforced a little too strictly in this case.

“Typically you have to take a couple steps and then go back (for it to get called),” Heinecke said. “She took one jab step then turned the other direction, which in my mind, if the ball is in the circle when you take that jab step, that shouldn’t count.”

This was the first time Adorno had been guilty of a look-back violation.

“I hope to not be part of one again,” Adorno said. “It’s a learning experience, for sure.”

It was one of multiple learning experiences for the Blue Devils on Tuesday.

“Nobody wants to lose, but it’s nice to have games like this where we have learning experiences that we can improve upon,” Heinecke said. “We definitely played with some heart today.”

The Blue Devils showed that heart in responding to a five-run sixth inning by the Pioneers, which Alysa Brinkman capped off with a two-out, three-run home run that gave the Pioneers a 5-1 lead.

Hlubek launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to trim the deficit in half.

“I think whenever anybody on our team gets a good hit, I really do think that gives our team some energy to push through in the late innings,” Hlubek said.

Two batters later, Neally hit a hard ground ball to shortstop Lilli Lempke, whose throw to first sailed high. Avery Niewohner, the courtesy runner for Carlee Gilker at second base, got caught in a rundown between third and home. Third baseman Lyla Possin’s throw hit the back of Niewohner’s helmet and caromed to the backstop, allowing Niewohner to score.

The Blue Devils got runners to second and third on back-to-back two-out base hits by Ivy Winter and Adorno in the seventh.

“There were definitely some missed opportunities. I could have made some different choices in what I did, but we kept responding, and we played the game that we knew how,” Heinecke said. “At the end of the day, we did not get our chance to win that ballgame like we should have.”

The Blue Devils (1-6) will hit the road to take on PORTA/A-C Central on Friday.