THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604130464
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
For the second time this season, Bayside, the Beach District's giant killer, knocked off South Hampton Roads' top-ranked softball team.
The No. 3 Marlins did it to Salem in a 1-0 thriller to start the season and on Friday routed previously unbeaten Princess Anne 9-0.
Bayside improved to 5-0 while the Cavaliers fell to 4-1.
``We weren't mentally focused,'' Princess Anne senior first baseman Lisa Slingerland said. ``Everything we could've done wrong we did.''
The Cavaliers' woes began in the second inning when Bayside's Tracy Berger led off with a double to left-center. She moved to second on Nicole Battersby's sacrifice bunt and put the Marlins on the board when Princess Anne's Sarah Smith lost Jen Walter's fly ball to right in the sun.
Three more Cavaliers' errors ensued as Bayside took a 3-0 lead.
With the cushion, Marlins' pitcher Heidi Hill struck out the side.
Hill managed to keep the usually powerful Princess Anne hitters at bay for two more innings, allowing the Cavaliers their first base runner in the fourth following Bayside's only error of the game.
``My catcher and I mix it up a lot,'' Hill said. ``Before the game, I kept it mental. I wasn't thinking about overpowering them. I was thinking about how and where I was going to throw it.''
And her team was thinking of where they could hit it. The Marlins pounded 11 hits for the game and got four RBIs from Michelle Williams and two each from Jen Moricle and Walter, who were both 2 for 4.
``We went out and did what we know how to do,'' Williams said. ``We just hit the ball.''
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, were held hitless until Beth La Greca reached first on grounder up the middle in her team's half of the fifth. Sarah Ravan got Princess Anne's only other hit with a shot to right.
The Cavaliers, however, left four runners stranded for the game.
Meanwhile, Bayside exploded for six more runs.
``We didn't take Bayside seriously enough,'' Princess Anne third baseball Lori Ferguson said. ``They wanted it more than us.'' by CNB