Lady Tornadoes sweep into championship series
By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Oct. 22, 2004
PHILADELPHIA In just a couple of hours, Philadelphia handed St. Andrew's as many losses as it had endured over the entire season.
The Lady Tornadoes won a pitchers' duel 3-1 in Game 1 and ran away with a 7-0 victory in Game 2 to sweep the Lady Saints and claim the 2A south state championship.
But the Lady Tornadoes were far and away the better team on Thursday. Led by pitcher Shelby Smith, Philadelphia surrendered just 14 hits and one run in 14 innings. The Lady Tornadoes gave up one or no hits in 10 of the 14 innings.
Smith was aided by Philadelphia's hitters, who produced offense from top to bottom of the lineup. All but one Lady Tornadoes starter had at least one hit in the best-of-three series, and three had multiple-hit games. Jillian Sparnecht was 2-for-3 in Game 1, and in Game 2, Shenique Brass was 3-for-4 and Shanese Hunter was 2-for-3.
Philadelphia's bottom four hitters Sparnecht, Alli Parsons, Erin Breland and Shikira Moore were a combined 8-of-23, setting up the top of the order to bring in the team's runs.
In Game 1, though, it was the the bottom of the lineup that provided all the offense the Lady Tornadoes needed. After Philadelphia loaded the bases on two-out singles by Smith, Sparnecht and Parsons in the fourth inning, Breland broke the scoreless tie with a two-RBI single for a 2-0 Lady Tornadoes lead.
The Lady Saints cut that lead in half in the top of the fifth, but Tiara Logan padded Philadelphia's lead by scoring on a Brittany Hodges sacrifice fly. The Lady Tornadoes' 3-1 advantage held through the rest of the game.
Offense was far more plentiful in Game 2, in which Philadelphia took a 4-0 lead with a scoring outburst in the fourth inning. Brass and Hunter put the Lady Tornadoes on the board, scoring on Sparnecht's two-RBI double. Parsons and Breland followed with RBI singles.
Philadelphia added three insurance runs in the seventh on a two-RBI double by Brass and a run-scoring single by Hunter.
St. Andrew's never came close to getting back in the game. After giving up a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Tornadoes recorded the last two outs of the game to punch their ticket for the state championship series.
Philadelphia will face Hamilton, whom Killen said he has scouted, in the best-of-three series on Saturday.
