ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: POWHATAN
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
When high school softball royalty gets together these days, the coaches are increasingly likely to part with the following words:
``Next year, our place.''
Those were the very words Glenvar coach Spike Harrison said Saturday to his Powhatan counterpart, Marie Crump.
On that particular occasion, at the Indians' place, it was Powhatan 9, Glenvar 7 for the 1996 Group A title.
Make no mistake about it. When it comes to the kingdom of Group A softball, these two are as blue-blooded as they come. Of the past eight state championships won in this classification, three each belong to the Indians and Highlanders.
Glenvar, which loses two seniors from a 19-6 team, figures to be back taking another whack at it this time next year. The Indians (25-0), who also lose two seniors , are likely to be around, too. See you in Salem, Coach?
``We'd love that,'' Crump said.
Glenvar was in this one right to the sweaty end, when it rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh. That was when the Highlanders put together three of their seven hits against tall, slender pitcher Mary Walton.
The last of the runs came in when Kathy Jenkins, one of Glenvar' two 12th-graders, poked a run-scoring single over shortstop with two out to cap a fine day by the No.8 hitter in the lineup.
The bespectacled Jenkins, who plays left field, had a pair of hits and drove in a couple of runs.
``The one out she did make should have been a hit, too,'' Harrison said.
That was an only-in-softball putout, right field to first base, in the fifth inning. That was one of the quieter innings.
The noisiest inning for Powhatan was the third, when it scored four runs to take a 7-2 lead. Three Glenvar errors helped the Indians' cause. The Highlanders, usually reliable defenders, had six errors in all.
``We just don't do that,'' Harrison said. ``Our infield wasn't sharp today. I don't know whether it was the hardness of the infield here or what.''
It could have been simply too much softball in too short a time for Glenvar. The Highlanders had been up late beating Honaker in a semifinal in Salem on Friday. They were traveling on the bus east early Saturday.
``I let them sleep in,'' Harrison said.
They needed it.
``It was hard for us to come back after a night like that,'' said Glenvar's Amy Layman, who pitched both games. ``We didn't quite have the time to get the mindset we needed.''
But they did have the mindset to make it a heck of a game on a hot afternoon.
``They hung in there and they didn't let up,'' Crump said. ``We got up 3-0 and they didn't stop. They stayed with us the whole time.
``I told my assistant coach [Linda Farmer] in about the fifth inning, `We're never going to have enough runs.'''
Walton did what she could to hold off Glenvar, striking out nine. She also went 3-for-4 with a triple, three RBI and two runs scored.
``Is she my best hitter?'' Crump said. ``In certain situations she is.''
One of those was in the first, when her two-run triple was the key blow in a three-run inning. That was the first of two triples Powhatan had with one or no outs. Both times, the Indians got the runner in from third.
It was fundamentally sound softball, just the way a champion should play it.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB