Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 1, 1993 TAG: 9306010127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
All the Knights had to do was keep winning, and, by the luck of the rotation, they would play at home.
Those plans were scrubbed Monday, though, when Osbourn Park's Stephanie Heit rendered Cave Spring's hitters useless in the visiting Yellow Jackets' 3-0 victory in the opening round of the Group AAA Northwestern Region Tournament.
Heit allowed one hit and one runner. She gave up a one-out single to Cave Spring's Shannon Smithson in the first inning and then retired the final 23 hitters.
"I didn't realize I had only allowed one runner," said Heit.
Not only that, but Cave Spring's offense got only three balls past the infield all afternoon. Everything else was a grounder or pop to the infield or one of Heit's three strikeouts.
"I had never seen her [Heit] before, but coming in she had an 0.90 earned run average, so I knew she'd be tough," said Cave Spring coach Harold "Fuzzy" Minnix, whose team closed with a 16-3 record.
"Offensively we did as poorly at the plate as we've done in a long time," Minnix said. "We finished district play over a week ago, were sitting around a lot and got a little stale. She's a good pitcher with a rise ball and curve that we haven't seen before."
Osbourn Park (15-4) got the only run it needed in the third inning when Heather Miner singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice by Jen Blake. Megan Slusher slashed a single to center, and the Knights' Ellen Jamison bobbled the ball as Miner scored.
Meanwhile, Cave Spring pitcher Jennie Kallio was struggling. She gave up nine hits for the day, and the Knights' chances ended when Osbourn Park scored two more runs in the sixth. Laura Gregorio drove in one run on a double before she scored on Ashley Williamson's infield hit.
"This was one of Steph's best games," Osbourn Park coach Dan Clendaniel said. "But this was also our best game defensively. Our defense comes and goes, but today as we did well it gave our pitcher more confidence.
"Cave Spring made it clear the first couple of innings that they were going to hit some hard balls, and we were able to handle them."
\ Osbourn Park 001 002 0-3 9 0\ Cave Spring 000 000 0-0 1 2
Heit and Zeer; Kallio and Crowder. W - Heit (14-4). L - Kallio (9-2).
\ GROUP A SCHEDULE: The Group A Region C softball tournament semifinals will be played today at 4:30 at Floyd Recreation Park. Floyd County plays James River on Field No. 1, and Glenvar plays Castlewood on Field No. 2. The championship is Wednesday at 4:30.
by CNB