Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Terriers, seeking their first Group AA state softball berth, dropped a 5-4 decision to Amherst County. The Lancers will meet Rustburg, a 9-0 winner over Tunstall in the other semifinal, for the Region III championship today at a site to be determined.
William Byrd (18-3-1) fell behind 4-0 on shaky fielding before rallying in the late innings. Byrd still trailed 5-2 with one out in the seventh when coach Billy Meador sent three consecutive pinch hitters to the plate.
All of them reached, with Elizabeth Williams singling to center and Dana Walton and Kim Kendrick drawing walks from Amherst pitcher Adrienne Maddox.
The Lancers (18-5) brought on Suzanne Maddox, the freshman sister of the starting pitcher. She got the second out on a come-backer to the mound by Lee Fowler.
It looked as if the game was over when Sarah Hudson grounded to second, but an error let in two runs to make it 5-4. However, Heather Ring grounded to first, ending the game.
"We probably shouldn't have laid off that long," Meador said of his Terriers, who got a bye and hadn't played in a week. "That didn't help. It's hard to stay sharp. But we knew we had to play defense and we had to hit the ball. We didn't do that."
Byrd's pitcher, Tracy Doupnik, was in trouble every inning. She got out of a first-and-third, no-out situation in the fifth when the Amherst runner at first was called out for leaving the base too soon and Hudson, the Terriers' center fielder, caught a fly ball and threw out the other runner at home.
Doupnik hit three batters. She also gave up a two-out single in the seventh to Adrienne Maddox, bringing in the Lancers' fifth run.
"They were crowding the plate and the mound was slippery. I was kind of slipping and we weren't getting [the calls] inside," Doupnik said. "We considered walking Maddox, then decided to pitch her outside. I think she saw the catcher crouching outside and knew what we were trying to do."
by CNB