DATE: Wednesday, June 4, 1997               TAG: 9706040660

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   44 lines

PA DROWNS PRINCE GEORGE

Melissa Hirsch was at home in Tuesday's wet, gale-driven conditions.

Raised in Washington state, the Princess Anne junior was used to playing in such slop and it showed in a 4-1 Group AAA quarterfinal victory over Prince George.

The Cavaliers will wait to see who wins the Salem-Varina game that was postponed because of similar conditions. The game is tentatively scheduled for today at 7 p.m. If Salem wins, the semifinal will be at 7 p.m. Friday at Princess Anne. The Cavaliers will travel to Richmond with a Varina victory.

For five innings Tuesday, Hirsch was invincible.

``Yes, it was very, very sloppy out there,'' the junior said. ``You have to do what you have to do. I had to see what pitches were working and all of them were.''

Just ask the Royals, who suffered through 5 1/3 innings of hitless ball.

``One thing's for sure, she pitched an extremely good game,'' Prince George coach Pat Waguespack said.

Hirsch had struck out nine until Royals pitcher Rachel Morris singled to the gap between third and shortstop.

By then, Princess Anne (25-2) held a 4-0 lead.

The Cavaliers manufactured a pair of runs in the first inning on one hit, a Prince George error and three walks.

Princess Anne scored twice again in the third on a home run over the left centerfield fence by Kelly Slingerland and a double steal score by Jen Kanten - who had reached on a error by Royals first baseman Dawn Saunders.

Prince George (19-4) came to life somewhat after Morris' hit and finally scored in the top of the sixth when shortstop Jamie Donivan walked and was brought in on Jenny Ludwig's hit to deep centerfield.

Hirsch - who finished with 13 strikeouts - admitted inspiration from the presence of catcher Sarah Ravan, who had spent the weekend in the hospital with a severe kidney infection.

``We've all worked too hard, I've worked to hard, to not be out here,'' Ravan said. ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Princess Anne's Sarah Smith steals second during the Cavaliers'

state quarterfinal softball victory Tuesday.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu