VANDALIA — Avery Mulvey needed her “moment.”
Newton head coach Sara Beam noted how well Mulvey was playing heading into the postseason but still hadn’t had that one moment that she had earned.
Lo and behold, that moment came when her team’s backs were against the wall in the sectional semifinals.
Mulvey hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning against Gillespie on Tuesday to push Newton to the sectional championship game. The Lady Eagles won 5-3.
“Avery has always been that solid player for us,” Beam said. “She needed that big moment. She’s been so good in May. She was calm, smiling when she went up there and I knew it was her time. She was just in the moment. It was good to see.”
Heading to Quincy University in the fall to continue her softball career, Mulvey wasn’t ready for her high school season to be over with yet. She had three hits and scored twice to go along with the two runs driven in.
The Lady Miners controlled the early part of the game.
They got a two-run home run in the top of the first inning from starting pitcher Sadie Sholtis.
Gillespie scored again in the top of the fifth after another home run, this by Ava Parish.
The Lady Miners were leading 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh when Mulvey scored one of her two runs after an error on the Gillespie left fielder.
“You got to give it to these girls,” Beam said. “They never tighten up; they play loose and they always believe. They did such a great job of picking each other up in the dugout and still believing all the way to the eighth inning. We talked, after the game, about how it took everybody up and down the lineup and everybody defensively to win that game. They stayed together and fought.”
Alisson Stanley had two hits and two runs.
Bailee Frichtl had one hit and one RBI. Audrie Reich and Allie Hermann had one hit. Lexie Ghast had one hit and one RBI. Jorjia Reich scored one run.
Addy O’Dell and Camryn Martin went 0-for-7 at the plate.
“She did a really nice job of staying off the plate, which would have been outside on them because they’re lefties,” Beam said. “We were all trying to figure out [the pitch] that was starting out and they thought it was going to be off and then it came right back in on the plate. All three of my lefties struggled a little bit there. That was definitely something I couldn’t see when I went and watched them play Staunton because Staunton didn’t have any lefties, so that was a surprise to us.”
Amelia Collins allowed seven hits, three runs and two walks to three strikeouts in eight innings.
“I think she had an OK day,” Beam said. “She wasn’t at the top [of her game] by any means, but she does such a great job of fighting. I knew, going in, that Gillespie were long-ball hitters. We had to keep the ball low and get some more groundouts versus fly ball outs. It took her out of her game.”
Newton played Columbia for the sectional championship of the Class 2A Vandalia Sectional on Friday. The game was at 4 p.m.