RIPPLE/Matthew Gorry
Forbush’s Shey Steelman fires a pitch against Starmount Friday night. Steelman picked up the win in her first game back from injury.
RIPPLE/Matthew Gorry
The Lady Falcons release pink balloons in honor Eloise Crissman on Pink Night Friday.
RIPPLE/Matthew Gorry
The Lady Rams release pink balloons in honor of Eloise Crissman on Pink Night Friday.
EAST BEND - From all accounts, Boonville-native Eloise Crissman is in high spirits while battling breast cancer.
Crissman, who owned Boonville Flower & Gift for more than 40 years before retiring, was honored in a pregame ceremony Friday night on Pink Night before cross-town rivals Starmount and Forbush squared off.
While posing for pictures with both squads, Crissman kept a smile glued across her face, while cracking jokes to keep the girls laughing and smiling.
After photographs, four doves were released with pink balloons in honor of Crissman and cancer awareness.
In the game, the Lady Falcons welcomed back injured ace Shey Steelman, and rode her to a thrilling 7-2 victory in her first game back from a knee injury.
Starmount put runners on first and second in the top of the first, but Steelman struck out two batters to get out of the inning unscathed.
Forbush stormed back and scored three runs off the Rams’ ace Courtney Groce to take a somewhat surprising 3-0 advantage.
Mallory Choplin singled to lead-off the inning and came home on a Natalie Hauser RBI double. Kelly Moran and Anna Wingler followed with back-to-back run-scoring hits to extend the lead to 3-0.
Groce rebounded and held the Falcons scoreless over the next three frames, while Courtney Barnes brought the Rams within striking distance with a monstrous two-run shot over the left-field scoreboard in the fourth.
But from there, the Forbush offense battled back and scored a pair of runs in the fifth and the sixth to chase Groce and hand Starmount its second-straight conference loss.
Wingler and Cortland Phillips added RBI hits in the fifth, while Steelman added the final insurance run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to left.
With the loss, the Lady Rams fall behind Wilkes Central and West Wilkes in the Mountain Valley Conference title run, with the Falcons hot on their trail.
Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or mgorry@heartlandpublications.com.
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