By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
April 16, 2004
The Northeast Lauderdale Lady Trojans were in a very different position just one short year ago. The Lady Trojans finished the 2003 season with an 0-17 record and one year later Northeast Lauderdale found themselves in the second round of the fast-pitch softball playoffs.
Northeast Lauderdale saw its strong 2004 playoff run end on Thursday at Northeast Park in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of East Central High School. NEL dropped the first game 6-1 and the nightcap 11-0.
"I don't think anyone thought that this team would be in the position we were in today," said Northeast Lauderdale head coach Chris Harper. "Our seniors are just unbelievable people and I think that they have set a great example for the younger girls that will be coming up next year."
Northeast Lauderdale ended the season with a 17-14 record and East Central will advance to the Class 4A South State Championship series against the winner of Lawrence County and Bay St. Louis.
East Central 6
Northeast 1
The Lady Trojans only managed four hits and allowed five unearned runs in the five-run loss in game one. The first run of the game scored in the top of the second inning for the Lady Hornets to make the score 1-0.
Megan Chisholm led the inning off with a single and later scored on an RBI single by Jessica Gary to give East Central the one-run lead. The Lady Hornets came right back in the fourth inning with a run to extend the lead to 2-0 when Chisholm reached on a dropped third strike and later scored on a single by Christy Lyon. East Central took advantage of a Northeast Lauderdale error to take a 3-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning when Tee Dock scored o Chisolm's sacrifice fly.
Northeast Lauderdale scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the East Central lead to 3-1. Megan Winborn led the inning off with a single and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Shelly Odom to give Jana Olczack an RBI opportunity. Olczack delivered a double to left center that scored the run to cut the lead to 3-1.
"We made a few mistakes that gave them a few chances to score," said Harper. "If you take the errors away, we were right in the game."
East Central started to pull away with a run in the sixth inning thanks to an error by Northeast Lauderdale and the final two runs scored in seventh inning.
East Central 11
Northeast 0
The Lady Hornets cruised to the sweep with an 11-run win in game two. East Central started the scoring barrage in the second inning with four runs to take a 4-0 lead.
Ariel Kennedy led the inning off with a single and Katie Hammond followed with a single to put a pair of runners aboard for the Lady Hornets. One run scored on a fielder's choice for East Central and the second run crossed the plate on a bunt single by Whitley Wells to make the score 2-0 .
Two more runs scored later in the inning on a two-run single by Lauren Harger . East Central started to pull away in the fourth inning with three runs to make the score 7-0.
Two of the runs scored on a single by Dock and the third run scored on an RBI groundout by Kennedy. The final runs of the game were scored in fifth inning to make the score 11-0. Three runs crossed the plate on a hit by Dock and another run scored in the inning on an infield single by Wells.