Hart Survives Off Day by Weil to Beat Hawthorne

Kym Weil has Kelly Kepplinger and the rest of the Hart High lineup to thank for coming to the rescue Wednesday in the second round of the Southern Section 4-A Division softball playoffs.

For the first time this season Weil, Hart’s windmill wizard, was roughed up for three runs in an inning, two of them earned. But ignited by Kepplinger’s two-out, run-scoring triple, the Indians scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning to post a 4-3, come-from-behind victory over visiting Hawthorne.

Hart (29-1) will play Western, an 11-0 winner over Rubidoux on Wednesday, in a quarterfinal game Friday.

Entering the game, Weil (25-1), a junior right-hander, had yielded just one earned run all season and struck out 277 batters in 165 innings. But after spotting Hart a 2-0 lead, Hawthorne (24-3) shocked Weil by scoring three times in the fourth inning.

Hawthorne pitcher Tricia Waayers (16-3), who singled to lead off the inning, scored from third on a throwing error by Weil. One out later, Katina Stallworth delivered a two-run double to left-center.

“That probably was the worst game I’ve thrown all year. I don’t know what happened to this one,” Weil said. “But I have the worst game all season and the team is right behind me.”

With two out and pinch-runner Amy Phillips at second, Kepplinger gave Waayers’ 0-2 pitch the ol’ schoolgirl crush, belting a triple that landed inches inside the right-field line. Kepplinger later scored what proved to be the winning run on third baseman Jennifer Stone’s throwing error.

Weil settled down to complete a six-hitter with nine strikeouts. But while witnessing his team’s ace--and his only daughter--struggle, Hart Coach Al Weil had to be concerned, right?

“Hell, no,” the coach cracked. “And I’m a liar too.

“We’ve been behind before,” Weil said. “We’ve had some pretty close games. But I just told the players that we have to come out and play aggressive. And I want everybody we’re going to play to know that we’re going to be aggressive.”

Hart, ranked No. 1 in the division, jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jamie Dean singled and scored on Danielle Wood’s single. The Indians added a run in the third on four consecutive singles.

Weil struck out six of the first 10 batters she faced, limiting the Cougars to one baserunner through the first three innings. But when she yielded a leadoff single to Waayers and a walk to Jaymie Bradford in the fourth, the Indians had cause for concern.

“We thought about it,” Kepplinger said of Hawthorne’s rally. “But we just hung in there. We fought.”