THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050549
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 54 lines
Princess Anne fell one hit short of keeping its dream season alive.
The Cavaliers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh in a 2-1 loss to Atlee in the Group AAA state softball quarterfinals Wednesday at Princess Anne.
The Raiders (22-3), making their second appearance in the state playoffs, will meet Manchester, a 1-0 winner over Bayside in nine innings, in Thursday's semifinals.
The Eastern Region champion Cavaliers, whose nine-game winning streak ended, finished at 20-4.
Down a run entering the seventh, Sarah Ravan reached on an infield hit for Princess Anne. Clean-up batter Lori Ferguson's line drive was then snagged by shortstop Amy Peay for the first out. Melissa Rice, pinch-running for Ravan, advanced to second as Sara Smith's bunt sneaked through the infield.
Freshman Kelley Slingerland then fouled off three balls with a full count before striking out. Jen Kanten then walked to load the bases.
``I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders,'' Kanten said. ``I wanted to crush the ball, but you have to take what you can get.''
Atlee pitcher Jo Anna Sanders fell behind in the count 2-1 to Beth La Greca before inducing her to ground out to first baseman Courtney Goldsmith.
``I just wanted to pitch as hard as I could and not give her anything to hit,'' Sanders said.
Sanders didn't give the Cavaliers much to hit all day. She scattered four hits and struck out four.
Princess Anne got its first hit in the bottom of the second when Ferguson blasted a line drive in the left-centerfield gap for a stand-up double.
Pinch-runner Amy Nevue reached third on Smith's sacrifice bunt, then scored on Slingerland's fielder's choice.
Atlee took the lead in the top of the fourth.
Shortstop Kelly Hartzog fielded Devon Gillis' grounder and threw home to try to prevent Reagan Kiester from scoring. But Kiester slid around Ravan's tag.
Ravan then leftthe plate to go after Gillis making her way to second. Tiffany Lawson headed home and Ravan tossed to pitcher Melissa Hirsch, who had the ball jarred loose while making the tag. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Photo by L.Todd Spencer
The Cavaliers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh in
a 2-1 loss to Atlee.
[Color photo also appears on p.C1] by CNB