Meridian Star

October 15, 2008

Lady Cats find a way

By Rocky Higginbotham / Sports Editor

CLASS 5A SOUTH STATE
Northwest Rankin at Meridian

Game 1: Lady Cats 2, Lady Cougars 0
Game 2: Lady Cougars 5, Lady Cats 0
Game 3: Lady Cats 2, Lady Cougars 1

Meridian wins best-of-three series, 2-1

• Lady Wildcats will take on Grenada Saturday for Class 5A state title.


MERIDIAN — Meridian High School softball coach Susan Frazier had this reaction when reminded that her squad scratched out just four runs in the three-game, Class 5A South State championship series – yet still managed to find a way to win Tuesday night:

"They've just about given me a heart attack."

Perhaps. But when the dust — and the fireworks and the silly string — settled at Northeast Park, Meridian's girls were once again chanting "We're going to the 'ship!"

Meridian used outstanding defense to win a second straight South State championship, beating No. 9 ranked Northwest Rankin 2-1 in the decisive third game. The Lady Cats won the opener 2-0, then dropped a 5-0 decision in the second game.

"Our defense was really good most of the night," Frazier said. "It got us out of some jams and kept us close and we managed to put together just enough hits to win.

"I still don't think we're hitting the ball the way we're capable of, though," Frazier said. "Maybe we can get that straightened out by Saturday."

Saturday is when the Lady Wildcats will take on Grenada in the state championship series at the V.A. Fields in Jackson. Game 1 is set to begin at 11 a.m.

Meridian, the defending state runnerup, improved to 20-11 with Tuesday's wins. Division rival Northwest Rankin, which topped the Lady Wildcats twice during the regular season, finished with a 23-8 record.

The visiting Lady Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the decisive third game when Londen Ladner launched a solo homer over the left-field wall in the top of the first inning. But Northwest Rankin didn't get another base hit in Game 3 until a single by Kennedy Bounds in the fifth inning.

In fact, Meridian out-hit the Lady Cougars 12-3 in the finale, but the Lady Wildcats stranded 11 baserunners.

"We left so many people on base all night," Frazier said. "They've worried me to death leaving so many people on."

Meridian drew even in the bottom of the first. Olivia Taylor and Roneshia Brown started the rally with back-to-back singles — and Taylor came home after back-to-back sacrifice flies from J'Quandra Hickman and Devonna Gilmer.

The Lady Wildcats went up 2-1 in the second, as Kenyatta Handley, Heather Reed and Victoria Moore put together three straight singles to start the inning. Handley scored when Moore's hit got past the Northwest Rankin outfield.

MHS left two runners on second and third in that inning, left the bases loaded in the third and left two more runners on in the fourth.

But in the end, it didn't matter, as defensive gems from Taylor at shortstop, Hickman at second base and Moore in left-center field kept Northwest Rankin off the board.

Brown, Moore and Shakira Stribling all had two hits in the final game for Meridian, while Gilmer (18-11) was the winning pitcher. MHS had four errors in the three games combined, but none in the last contest.

In Game 1, the teams combined for 18 hits — all singles — and Meridian scratched out two runs in the bottom of the sixth to win, 2-0.

Hickman and Gilmer led off the decisive inning with back-to-back singles, and both advanced on a sac fly from Warren. Handley was intentionally walked to load the bases, then Heather Reed's liner was snared by Ladner at shortstop.

Moore followed with a hard ground ball to right-center which broke the scoreless tie, and Stribling followed with another two-out, RBI single to make it 2-0.

Stribling and Breanna Hampton were each 2-for-3 in Game 1, while losing pitcher Karmen Bischoff was 2-for-3 for Northwest Rankin.

The first extra-base hit of the day came in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 2, when Northwest Rankin's Morgan Foster delivered a line drive to the fence in right-center field.

The throw back to the infield missed the cutoff man, and Foster raced home with a three-run homer which turned a tight game into a 5-0 Northwest Rankin win.

The Lady Wildcats managed just seven hits in Game 2, two of them by Handley.

Foster was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, Ladner was 2-for-2 and Bounds scored a pair of runs for the Lady Cougars.

Ladner, considered by some as the state's top hitter, officially finished 4-for-5 with a homer and four walks. One walk was intentional; the other three included 12 balls and one strike.

In fact, Ladner was on deck as the potential go-ahead run when Game 1 ended.

"Ladner is such a good player and such a strong hitter," Frazier said. "We decided to pitch to her and Devonna did a great job with the strategy we had ... pitching around her a little and trying to frustrate her.

"Devonna just did such a great job of keeping us in the ball game, and she did it all night."