Gibson comes up big for Hanover Central

Updated: May 29, 2011 12:00AM

Tiffany Gibson’s senior year for Hanover Central hasn’t been the most memorable from a hitting standpoint.

Her coach admits as much.

But she more than made up for it in Saturday’s Class 2A Wheeler Sectional final in which she made a pair of stellar defensive plays in center field to secure an improbable 4-3 Wildcats victory over Bishop Noll.

After the Wildcats (13-12) took the lead in the top of the sixth inning, Gibson made a diving catch in left-center field for the second out and preventing the potential tying run reaching scoring position.

Just to show she could go the other way in the outfield, she topped that play with another diving catch in the bottom of the seventh in right-center field for the final out of the contest.

“I’m not gonna lie, it feels pretty good,” Gibson said about the catch. “I’m so proud of everybody on this team. No one expected us to even win our first game of the sectional, and here we are winning.”

When asked if she thought her team could win a sectional at the beginning of a long season, Gibson admitted she was in that group of naysayers.

“Not at all,” she joked.

Gibson did have a productive day at the plate, reaching base three times, including a hit-by-pitch in the pivotal sixth inning in which she eventually scored the game-winning run. But it was those two web gems in the outfield that stood out.

“That’s what she gets paid for,” Hanover coach Larry McMillen joked. “I feel bad that she’s had such a tough year hitting, but I don’t think there’s a better outfielder (defensively) in the area.”

After Hanover scored the first run of the game in the first inning on a RBI-single by Katie Klopp, Bishop Noll (21-8) took the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run double by Salina Espino that scored Elena Palomo and Charlotte Williamson.

The Warriors added a run in the fourth inning when new Wildcats’ pitcher Ashley Yoways — she replaced surprise starter Abby Stewart — walked four batters.

“We struggled today,” Noll coach Ralph Laramie said. “It was an emotional high beating Wheeler (on Friday) and we just couldn’t finish today.”

The biggest hit of Hanover’s sixth inning came from No. 2 batter Tiphani Ward. After Yoways led off with a walk, Ward tried to execute a sacrifice bunt twice and failed. So instead, she swung away and got a single. Klopp, Blayr Poston and Taylor Hurst drove in the three runs, each with RBI singles.

Besides its good defense, Hanover held off Noll in the later innings with a pitching switch. Stewart, who only started a couple games all season, began the game in the circle. She’s what they call in the softball world a “junk-baller” who don’t throw that hard. Then McMillen brought in his hard-throwing No. 1 pitcher Yoways in the fourth inning. After she got past control issues in that first inning of work, Noll only had two hits the rest of the way.

It’s a strategy McMillen admitted he got from Wheeler coach Marc Bruner the night before.

“We took that out of your book,” McMillen told Bruner on Saturday, referring to Wheeler changing pitchers in the middle of its game for much the same reason.

Hanover advances to Tuesday’s 2A regional at Hebron, which won its sectional on Saturday.

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