By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Known for her sizzling speed, Bedford North Lawrence junior Jaden Schofield doesn’t walk anywhere. She’s not even drawn a walk this season. But she walked one off in dramatic fashion for a clutch game winner.
The scenario was every batter’s dream sequence. Bottom of the seventh inning, two outs, the winning run at third base. Two strikes. Time for a hero.
With a semi-deliberate contact swing, Schofield smacked a sharp, no-doubt single up the middle, plating the deciding run as the Stars, desperate in their need for something to smile about, conquered Linton 6-5 on Monday evening. Schofield capped a three-hit night with the biggest of her career as BNL (2-11) ended a four-game slide. Both wins have been on home turf.
Schofield needed table setters for her grand moment. With one out, Kali McKee singled to center. With two outs, Bella Warren singled to right as pinch runner Lexy Niemi scrambled to third. Then came Schofield, who fouled off three pitches from Linton hurler Ella Norris before ripping a line drive to center and setting off the celebration.
“In that little huddle (before the plate appearance), everyone was like ‘You got this,’” Schofield said. “Yeah, I know I got it. Just go up there and do what I’ve been doing, take some deep breaths. I saw the one and just crushed it.”
Surprised? Don’t be. Schofield raised her season average to a sparkling .528 with that final hit. She’s more likely to steal the opponent blind (11 stolen bases as she eyes the school record) than shoot their eyes outs with a Red Rider batting stroke, she’s a threat to beat out anything on the ground.
“Her barrel just finds the softball,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “That’s all you have to do. We have this mentality that you have to swing as hard as you can, crush every pitch. Now she hit that one hard, don’t get me wrong. That’s one of the hardest balls she’s hit all year. But I’m just telling you, her barrel finds the ball.”
Getting to that 5-5 deadlock in the seventh was a wild ride.
The Miners (4-4) scored in the first (RBI single by Keelei Brown), but BNL answered with three runs in the bottom of the opening frame. Schofield bunted for a single, stole second and slid home on a Sara Williams single. Williams later scored on Macee Nicholson’s double to right, and the third run scored on a Linton error.
Linton battled back with a run in the third, but the Stars answered with Karsyn Coleman’s single and Adalynn Bailey’s sacrifice (plus another Linton error). The Miners drew even at 4-4 (scoring twice without a hit) in the fourth, but again BNL responded with an unearned run in the bottom of that inning.
Audrey Sullivan cranked a solo home run to center to start the Linton sixth and pencil the 5-5 deadlock that BNL erased.
“It was just all-out grit,” Gilbert said. “Our slogan the rest of the year is playing mad, play ticked off. We’re better than some of those losses, it’s just an inning here or there. So they attacked it. That was a huge win. It’s good to see a lot of kids smile right now.”
Coleman worked the final 3 1/3 innings in the circle to earn the win. In addition to Schofield, Coleman and McKee had two hits each.
“This was a very important win,” Schofield said. “I love softball, it’s in me.”
BNL will visit Edgewood on Tuesday.
