By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
August 9, 2003
West Lauderdale broke open a 2-0 game with seven runs on five hits and four Union errors in the bottom of the fifth inning in taking a 9-1 victory in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Richard May Complex in Collinsville.
The same teams square off again tonight at 7 p.m. at Laird Field in Union.
West had 11 hits against Union with only a misplayed fly ball by Kirby Rutledge going for more than one base.
Winning pitcher Sommer Jones went 3-for-3, while Rutledge and Ashley Helms were both 2-for-4. Helms had two RBIs.
West took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with Helms' RBI single driving in Morgan Gullette. Helms scored on an error on Holly Herrington's grounder to shortstop.
The defending Class 3A state champion Lady Knights broke the game open with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth. In addition to a walk and four Union errors, West got RBI singles from Helms and Jones to go with a two-run single from third baseman Brook Bounds.
West retired 14 Lady Jacket batters in a row until second baseman Chasity Yates got a one-out infield hit in the top of the sixth. Yates scored on a single by Lindsay Walker when Emily Jo Havard dropped the throw to the plate. Havard redeemed herself one batter later as she tagged Walker out on a similar play at the plate to end the inning.
Union had six hits with six different batters each having one single. The Lady Jackets had only one hit through the first five frames.
Union, the 2002 Class 1A state runner-up, had four groundouts to the pitcher, four infield popups, and had two batters strike out. In addition, the Lady Jackets committed eight errors.
The Lady Knights committed only two errors.