By Brian Holtzapple
DANVILLE -- One night after it took the second place team in the Heartland Athletic Conference Division I to the brink, Danville had the pleasure of facing the division's first place team -- Milton -- on Thursday.
The Ironmen made themselves flies in the Black Panthers' proverbial ointment through the first nine innings of Thursday's game.
But in the 10th inning Milton told Danville to buzz off.
The Black Panthers scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning to break a 1-all tie and take a 6-2 victory over the Ironmen.
With three games remaining on the season, the loss takes Danville (6-11, 4-8 HAC-I) out of contention for a District 4 playoff berth.
"On Wednesday we played the second place team (Jersey Shore) and tonight we played the first place team and we took them both to extra innings," said Danville coach Dwayne Heeter, whose Ironmen fell to the Bulldogs 2-1 in 8 innings.
"I was proud of their performance the past two nights. We proved to some people that we can play at (the level of Milton and Jersey Shore), but we just have to execute better."
Danville shot itself in the foot in the game by committing four errors. Two of those miscues came in the 10th while the international rule was in effect.
With Larissa Luu starting on second base to begin the top half of the 10th for Milton (12-1, 10-1), Nicole Smith singled and Jennalee Williams hit an RBI single to give the Black Panthers a 2-1 lead.
The bases soon became loaded before an error plated two more runs and Milton's lead grew to five.
"It was all real quick," said Heeter.
The Ironmen got a run back in the bottom of the 10th on Autumn Albertson's RBI single that plated Sarah Mullen, but Smith finished her complete-game win by not allowing another base runner after that.
Smith held the Ironmen to three hits. She struck out seven and walked only one.
"The 10th inning deflated us. Up until that point we played a fine game," Heeter said.
Milton took a 1-0 lead in the second by scoring on an error. Danville tied the game in the seventh on Nicole Wallize's fielder's choice that scored Sam Zampetti, who had led off the inning with a double.
Between the second and 10th innings the Ironmen stayed with the Black Panthers thanks to the efforts of back-up pitcher Kylee Dragano.
"Kylee pitched really well for us," Heeter said. "She had Milton off-balanced in the game. A couple of girls had some good swings, but she induced a lot of ground balls and she kept it close and gave us an opportunity to tie the game."
Dragano pitched all 10 innings and finished with five strikeouts and three walks.
"For the third time this season Kylee pitched well for us. You can't ask for much more," Heeter said. "Angie Lynn pitched two nights in a row, so you have to have someone else to throw in there and she stepped up in all three of her opportunities."
With three games left in the season Danville will play for nothing more than pride, and Heeter made sure his players were aware that they can still finish the season strong.
"They played well the past two nights and they almost beat the top two teams in the league," Heeter said. "We have three more games left. I let them know they have to keep battling and we'll be in all three of those games as well."
