Willis’ walk-off sends CHS to quarterfinals

Kylie Willis delivered the biggest of the seventh inning fireworks with a walk- off single to lift No. 3 Choudrant 2-1 over No. 14 Fairview in the second round of the Division V Non-select playoffs on Monday.

After Zoey Smith sprinted home to tie the game at 1-1 thanks to a perfectly placed bunt from Emma Boggs to move Smith from second to third with no outs, only to head home on a missed throw from Fairview’s pitcher in an attempt to get a force at third, Willis came up with the bases loaded and nobody out.

The winning run, Addison Worley, stood 90 feet away.

Willis, Choudrant’s starting center fielder, delivered on a deep shot to left field that got past Fairview’s defender to send Worley home and bring Aggie faithful into a joyful celebration. It was Willis’ first hit since April 5 over Forest.

“I was beginning to wonder there towards the end but we were in a part of the lineup with the juniors, the older girls,” Choudrant head coach Wayne Antley said. “They knew they just had to get the bat on the ball. They never quit. Over here, they were never like, ‘ It’s over.’ It makes it that much more exciting at the end but it’s tough on an old coach at 62.”

Limited to just 2 hits through 6 innings and facing a 1-0 deficit, Choudrant’s rally started with junior Zoey Smith reaching safely on an infield error by Fairview’s third baseman. With Worley up to bat, Smith took off for second and slid in with two Fairview players near the bag. The infield umpire put his hands up to signal delayed bobble, with Fairview not able to apply the tag.

And then a 10-plus minute debate began between umpires and Fairview’s head coach, who demanded an explanation from the crew, believing the call was out.

In an unusual turn of events, Fairview’s coach nearly decided the call as the umpire continued to hear the complaint, met with fellows umpires, reversed the call and called Smith out.

With boos raining down and Antley coming out to get his word in, understandable frustration and confusion grew from fans who questioned the need for a reversal.

After multiple talks with Antley, Fairview’s head coach, and umpires, the call was reversed a second time — back to the original on-field call of safe.

Th e s i t u a t i o n stumped Antley postgame.

“He was saying he thought he threw his hands up and the other team was saying he didn’t throw his hands up,” Antley said. “And then he’d say, ‘ Well, I thought I did. But they said I didn’t so I’m gonna call her out.’ And I said, ‘No. No. You can’t go with what they said. It’s your call. If you think you threw your hands up, that’s what you gotta go with.’ So he finally changed it back and forth and that’s what he went with.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Antley continued. “He changed it two or three times and he was just going to go back with whatever coach talked to him last. It was coming down to where their coach was going to get tossed or I was going to get tossed over that.”

Lost in the late-inning madness of a walk-off and umpires walking back calls, Choudrant junior Holly Bennett pitched another gem to keep Choudrant in the fight to earn the win — going 7 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 earned run, and striking out 3 batters. In her last eight appearances (43 innings), Bennett has allowed just 4 earned runs while striking out 44 batters.

“She’s smart,” Antley said. “I didn’t think they would score many runs with Holly in the circle. And I thought we would. You can blame it on the layoff but we hit. We came up Sunday and we didn’t do anything but hit. We went through the first inning with no base runners though.”

Along with Willis (1for-3, RBI), Zoey Smith and BG Weaver each had hits for Choudrant.

Choudrant awaits the winner of No. 11 Holden and No. 6 Stanley to play for a trip to the state tournament in Sulphur.