Make no mistake, Orange County leadoff hitter and second baseman Kennon Burnett wanted to prove a point when she stepped to the plate Monday night with two outs, a runner on and her Hornets’ squad down a run.
“Not making first or second team (All-Jefferson District) was hard because we’re a good team and we just showed that we can,” Burnett said. “It’s a big deal — we needed to prove people wrong.”
Message delivered. Burnett ripped a double to left center and took off around the bases. Jessy Reynolds scored from first and by the time Burnett reached second an overthrow back to the pitcher opened another door.
“Since her freshman year, that’s what she is, a spark,” Ferguson said. “She made the varsity then because she fielded 91 balls without an error and she never takes energy, she always gives energy. Her spirit? That’s why that happens right there when we needed it.”
She raced toward third and slid before Orange coach Neal Ferguson frantically directed her home. Burnett sprung to her feet, raced home and sealed a miraculous comeback in essentially a single at bat, a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Louisa County in the Region 4D semifinals that also earned the Hornets a state tournament berth.
“We had a lot of faith coming into this but it’s hard to beat a team three times and a lot of people came out to support and we pulled through,” Burnett said.
The Hornets will host Halifax Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Region 4D title game. The winner will host a Class 4 state quarterfinal.
Orange celebrates in the wake of Kennon Burnett’s game-winning double.
Burnett delivered in a huge way and in the process offset a stunning defensive performance by Louisa County throughout the contest. The Lions took the 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning when Lydia Gillespie singled on a bunt and then scored when Kaitlyn Foster poked a single into shallow left field just out of reach of the Orange shortstop.
But it was a 1-0 lead in large part because of the defensive effort of the Lions. It was sound all night but highlights included a running catch in centerfield in the bottom of the sixth by Gillespie, a brilliant play on a popped up bunt at first by Emily Gillespie and a diving grab by freshman catcher Alyssa Hopkins toward the backstop in the bottom of the fourth. Not to mention an error free performance by the middle infielders Savannah Bragg and Dara Sharpe.
“There was not much getting through the middle infielders, they were all over the place and (Lydia), I don’t know where she came from, but it ended up in her glove so we were pretty ecstatic,” said Louisa coach Susan Sharpe. “It kind of stinks that we were on the same side of the bracket because this would’ve been a heck of a championship game.”
Hannah Hearl also leaned on her defense, striking out seven while scattering six hits and not allowing a single walk. It was big-time playoff pitching on both teams’ parts.
“My team was behind me the whole time, they got all those outs and I’m very thankful for that,” Hearl said.
With the Hornets’ defense largely keeping pace with the Lions’ own spectacular effort, Orange simply couldn’t get anything through that defense at critical junctures. The Hornets made contact all night as Louisa’s Gillespie and Maddox Pleasants combined for four strikeouts and allowed just one walk between them, letting their defense do the heavy lifting.
“We’ve been here before, we’ve been in these one-run ballgames, it’s not like we’ve been blowing teams out and they can handle it and they proved it,” Ferguson said.
But when they had to have it Burnett delivered from the leadoff spot, coming up with what, to this point, is the play of her career in one of the biggest moments possible, keeping a season alive when it was, essentially, presumed dead.
“We were a little down, not going to lie, and then when Jessy got on base it lifted us up a little,” Hearl said. “And then Kennon got on it was a good feeling and then we just got on top. It’s a great feeling.”
