The average high school fan may be unaware as to who Sumrall’s Kynnedy Lumpkins is – even her name was spelled wrong in the Lady Bobcats’ starting lineup card against Stringer on Tuesday night.
Yet the eighth grader, who is no taller than 5-foot-4, made her presence known as she blasted a 3-run home run over Sumrall’s centerfield wall that not only gave the Lady Bobcats the lead but propelled them to a 14-4 run rule win over Stringer.
“I need to get used to (spelling her name),” Sumrall coach Dodie Robertson said. “I’ve got to get used to it now. I’ve got to put her in there. I’ll have to spell it more.
“We moved her up from the eighth grade. In (batting practice) yesterday, she hit like nine balls out of the park. It’s BP, and it’s just front toss, but since we have been here for seven years, no one has done that. That’s a spark right there, so (we thought) let’s give her a shot.”
Lumpkins’ home run ball traveled more than 200 feet, and in her first varsity start, she drove in four runs. However, she had no idea that the ball traveled that far, much less went over the fence.
“(I knew) whenever I heard everybody screaming,” Lumpkins said. “It felt amazing. I look up to the girls that are older than me. It felt good to have them celebrate for me.
“I was definitely nervous. As soon as I got up to the plate the first time and I saw the first pitch, I was like, ‘oh yeah, I got this.’”
Lumpkins’ bat is a welcome site for Sumrall (4-0) because the Lady Bobcats lost significant firepower from its lineup that was critical in reaching the Class 4A state title game a year ago.
In the first four games of the season, Sumrall has outscored teams 57-4. Against Stringer, the Lady Bobcats put up nine hits, drew 12 walks and struck just twice in the win.
“We are pleasantly surprised because we have a lot of new people on the field,” Robertson said. “We weren’t sure what this year was going to look like.
“We are very pleased with the way they have started off. The bats have been hot. It’s been kind of exciting, honestly.”
However, Sumrall’s win did not come easy as Stringer jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after a pair of errors set up an RBI sac fly and an RBI double. Summer Powers tied the game with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the frame.
In the second inning, Stringer stayed ahead after another Sumrall error put a runner on base, which set up two more runs for the Red Devils and pushed their lead to 4-2.
“We have a lot of stuff on defense to clean up and base running to clean up,” Robertson said. “We’ve had more errors than we would like, but yet the bats have been going, and we’ve been bouncing back from them. I think all of their runs were unearned, and that’s not good. We can’t continue to beat good teams if we continue to do that. We are going to have to clean up some stuff.”
The Lady Bobcats responded with an RBI single from Ella Robertson. But Lumpkins’ home run in the third inning not only gave Sumrall a 6-4 lead by shifted momentum in Sumrall’s favor.
“I felt like that home run was a momentum changer,” Robertson said. “That was against their ace, and she is a really good pitcher. That was huge because we were behind, and runs were hard to come by.”
Sumrall then broke away, particularly with a 5-run inning in the fourth. Notably, the Lady Bobcats scored in every inning. Ella Robertson led Sumrall’s hitters as she finished 3-for-4, drove in a run, and drew a walk. In addition, Kara Applewhite was 2-for-2 and drew a pair of walks.
“Tonight, I was just trying to work on my confidence,” Robertson said. “I went up there, and I knew that I could do it. I was just working on staying through to the ball.
“My hitting struggled a little bit last year. They told me that I was going to have to really step up this year and be one of the people that we lost. To see that we are putting the pieces together so early this year, I really think we have a chance to get back where we left off last year.”
Sumrall was also aided by a strong performance from starting pitcher Ashlyn Burkhalter. Burkhalter did not allow an earned run, struck six batters and gave up six hits in a complete game.
“Her spins were on,” Robertson said. “Even though we made some errors behind her, I was very proud of her. I thought that was good because she had growth and maturity. She didn’t crack. She kept it steady and kept pumping it in there.”
Sumrall returns to action at a road matchup against Petal on Thursday.
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