ROCKVILLE —
Leslee Walters thought she had put an exclamation point on a probable West Vigo softball victory, leading off the top of the seventh inning Wednesday at Rockville with a home run.
But it was taken away due to premature celebration by her high school softball teammates — no one can touch the player until she touches home plate.
“First home run ever, been playing for 12 years,” said a somewhat disappointed Walters, who is batting .439 and still finished 3 for 4 with two doubles to left field. “The pitching was good, I liked it. It was a little slower than usual so I had to hold back a little.”
The Vikings’ three runs in the sixth proved decisive in the 7-6 victory. Pinch-hitter Mackenzie Roth lifted a double to the fence in left-center field to drive in Lex Elkins and Taylor Otte.
“We’ve had some injuries, and Mackenzie’s a JV player and stepped up with a clutch at-bat when we really needed it,” West Vigo coach Cherish Easton said.
Now facing just a 7-5 deficit, Rockville mounted a rally in the final frame of the game. Alexia Lear led off with a single, but what appeared to be a base hit by Brook Earl turned into a fielder’s choice as West Vigo got the out at second base.
Emma Riffe’s sharp single scored Megan Gordon from second, and Riffe was able to take second base. But Taylor Vukovits struck out swinging against West Vigo right-hander Hannah Harden.
Rockville (4-8) battled back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the score in the fifth. No. 9 hitter Haley Goetz hit a high drive to center field that sailed out of the park for her first home run of the season. Her two-run homer cut West Vigo’s lead in half, and Earl and Gordon added RBIs to knot the score.
“Our kids have battled all year,” Rockville coach Dan Vukovits said. “We just are kind of young in some spots so we’re having some growing pains. Some days we play really well then other games we struggle.”
The Rox struggled in the early innings, dropping two pop-ups that helped the Vikings grab that early 4-0 lead.
“We’re just trying to work through those inconsistencies. We’ll try to work toward the end of the season and try to get those things ironed out,” Vukovits said.
Easton was impressed by Rockville’s persistence and clutch hitting.
“They actually did a good job, they scored five of their six runs with two outs,” Easton said. “The first couple innings we pulled some runs off their errors, but our bats just aren’t where they need to be right now. We’re popping up way too much and we need to be hitting line drives.”
West Vigo 7, Rockville 6
WV ab r h bi Rockville ab r h bi
Little lf 4 0 1 1 Lear ss 4 1 1 0
Waters cf 4 1 0 0 Earl 3b 4 1 1 1
Walters 1b 4 0 3 1 B.Gordon 1b 4 1 1 1
C.McClain 2b 4 0 0 0 Riffe p 4 0 2 1
Mann rf 4 0 1 0 Vukovits lf 4 0 1 0
Otte dp 3 2 1 0 Rogers cf 2 1 0 0
Harden p 0 0 0 0 Vandivier c 3 1 1 0
Elkins 3b 3 2 1 0 Stewart rf 2 0 0 0
Carlson ss 2 1 0 0 Goetz dh 3 1 1 2 Roth ph 1 1 1 2 M.Gordon 2b 0 0 0 0
Shepard c 2 0 0 0
Brown ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 32 7 8 4 Totals 30 6 8 5
West Vigo 130 003 0 — 7
Rockville 000 041 1 — 6
E — Lear 2, Vandivier, Little, Elkins, Earl. LOB — WV 3, R 5. SH — Rogers. HR — Goetz (1). 3B — Walters. 2B — Walters 2, Gordon, Otte.
IP H R ER BB SO
West Vigo
Harden (W, 3-2) 7 8 6 4 0 4
Rockville
Riffe (L) 7 8 7 2 0 4
Next — West Vigo (7-7) plays host to North Vermillion on Friday. Rockville (4-8) is host to Cloverdale tonight.




