
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994                    TAG: 9406030214 
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST                     PAGE: 42    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: 940605                                 LENGTH: BARCO

CURRITUCK PROVES IT CAN HOLD ITS OWN AT STATE 2A PLAYOFFS\

{LEAD} For those who were wondering whether Currituck County could compete against 2A competition in the deep rounds of the state softball playoffs, the Lady Knights had two games last week to prove they belong.

Currituck County jumped all over C.B. Aycock in the first inning and cruised to a 7-2 win in the third round of the North Carolina 2A state softball playoffs.

{REST} As has been the case several times this season, the Lady Knights jumped out to an early lead and saw their bats quit the rest of the way.

``We've had kind of a tendency to do that when we score big in the first or second inning,'' said Currituck head coach Tom Davies.

Currituck's Robin Taylor led off the first with a single through the hole at short. Renee Porr followed with a walk. Cyndi Wright cracked a two-run double to center over a shallow outfield. Michelle Porr followed with a bloop single to left.

With one out, Cindy Cline walked. Cameron Sawyer lined out to second for the second out. Alicia Banks followed with a bases-clearing triple, again over a shallow outfield. Anita Wilson also drove in a run to give the Lady Knights a 6-0 lead.

Aycock head coach Al Yelverton said that a scouting report he had on Currituck told him to have his pitcher throw a certain way, but the Currituck batters teed off in the first inning off starter Melissa Anderson.

``I told her to throw a fast low spin, that's what we went with,'' Yelverton said. ``After the first inning we went to a flat spin.''

Aycock, the top seed frm the East Central Conference, did not get on the board until the fifth inning when Carman Pope singled and later scored on an error. Currituck got another run home in the fifth on an RBI single by Michelle Porr.

Aycock scored another run in the sixth when Suzanne George singled and later scored on an error.

The Lady Falcons had another possible rally killed in the seventh inning by a superb catch by Currituck centerfielder Robin Taylor. With a runner on second, Taylor snagged a sinking line drive off the bat of Pope, then threw to second to double up Stacey Sasser.

``We've made the plays in the playoffs when the other teams have tried to rally,'' Davies said. ``We have taken teams out like that.''

In the second round of the playoffs, Currituck shut out Northside 11-0, a team that hadn't lost a game since Easter.

Leading 2-0 entering the sixth, the Lady Knights opened up an 8-0 lead including three straight walks and a three-run triple by Cline. Cline was 3-for-4 with two triples and five RBI. Banks also drove in two runs for the Lady Knights.

by CNB