Heading into extra innings Wednesday afternoon, neither the Carson or Douglas softball teams were having much trouble getting runners on base and into scoring position.
It was just a matter of who was going to come through with the clutch hit first.
It was Douglas' Maddy Gilbert who broke a 4-4 stalemate in the top of the eighth, slipping a ground ball just out of the infield on a one-out, 2-2 pitch to bring Ali Murray home.
Carson put its leadoff runner on in the bottom half but a pair of fly balls and a grounder stranded her there as Douglas held on for the 5-4 win.
"It's a big win, I'm really proud of what the girls were able to do today," Mitchell said.
Gilbert's clutch hit came after Rebecca Trute led the top of the inning off with a single. Murray came in to run for her and moved to third after a blown pickoff attempt following a one-out single from Emily Weaver.
"We were just looking for Maddy to put the ball on the ground and hopefully get another baserunner on," Mitchell said. "We would have been content to wait for Kat (Morgan, who bats after Gilbert in the Tiger lineup) to get up there and try to drive one in."
As it was, Gilbert's grounder got through for the RBI and Carson got out of the inning on a fly ball and a grounder to short.
"It was a great piece of hitting for Maddy," Mitchell said. "She fought off a couple pitches and hit the ball through the hole."
The loss put Carson on the ropes in terms of the playoff picture. The Senators will need to sweep Thursday's doubleheader at Douglas to keep control of their own future.
"We obviously have to win to unless we want help from someone else," Carson coach Scott Vickery said. "We don't want it to come to that. We've been in some close games with everyone this year. It's just been a matter of us coming up on the short end. We just have to go out and get them tomorrow.
"Our bloop hits went to their fielders and their bloop hits seemed to get through. That's just the way the game goes sometimes. (Douglas starting pitcher) Harper did a great job and they hit the ball well."
Harper was indeed strong as she struck out seven and walked two while scattering four hits.
"She is a good pitcher and she makes her pitches in good locations," Vickery said. "We had a little strategy to try and get to her and I think we did better against her than we have in years past."
Mitchell said Carson's approach was troublesome.
"I think what they were trying to do was crowd the plate and force her to pitch inside," he said. "They were trying to get ahead in the count on her but she fought through it. We had one bad inning -- hit a couple of batters and had a couple of errors -- but we fortunately got out of it. It could have been a lot worse."
Carson did its damage in the bottom of the fourth when Krista Mattice was hit by a pitch. Lauryn Knorzer and Cassie Vondrak followed with singled and Daria Leid reached on an error to score Mattice. Knorzer and Vondrak came around to score on a pair of errors and a hit batsmen with the bases loaded later in the inning brought Carson's final run of the game home.
Douglas started the game strong, getting a leadoff single from Emily Weaver, who later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Gilbert singled and Morgan grounded out to score Weaver. A two-out double from Harper brought Gilbert around for the early 2-0 lead.
"We got runners on, hit the ball hard and we capitalized early on," Mitchell said. "I liked the way we were hitting. We had a great start but we could break it open. Credit that to Carson. They fought back and stayed in it the whole game."
Carson's Dara Leid took over for Cassie Vondrak in the pitcher's circle in the top of the second and was strong throughout.
She finished with four strikeouts and two walks.
"Daria has been in that No. 2 role for us all year," Vickery said. "Cassie's arm is hurting and we didn't want to push it today. Daria did a great job for us and held it. We couldn't have asked for more from her today."
