‘Canes reserve spot in regional final
Riding on the strength of a 17-run, 14-hit attack and a no-hit performance from freshman pitcher Madison Fears, the Huntingtown Hurricanes renewed what has been largely a yearly ritual in earning a spot in the 3A South softball final.
Huntingtown fell behind the visiting Lackey Chargers by a run in the top of the second inning, but then unloaded on the visitors for the game’s duration in a 17-1, five-inning win.
“I think we’ve hit a nice stride right now,” Huntingtown coach Mike Johnson said. “We’ve had two games in a row now where we’ve had to go an inning or two to adjust our swings, and I’m really pleased with the way we’re hitting the ball.”
Lackey (8-13) scored the game’s first run after a pair of walks and a sacrifice put runners at first and second with one out. Then, following a strikeout for the second out, an attempted pick-off throw to second found its way into center field — the only time the entire game a ball reached the outfield when Lackey was batting — to allow the Chargers their only run.
The hiccup did nothing to bother Fears, however, as the pitcher struck out the next five she faced and did not allow another base runner.
“We always can depend on the offense to get runs for me and keep on going,” she said.
Huntingtown (16-3) got rolling at the plate in the second inning, when a double by Kassidy Taylor was followed by a triple off the bat of Alyssa Cook. Jennifer Jones followed with a sacrifice fly to push the go-ahead run across.
“I was aggressive,” said Taylor, who was 4 for 4 with three runs scored and an RBI. “I wanted it really bad today.”
But the Hurricanes were just getting warmed up.
Fourteen Hurricanes batted in the bottom of the third, as the hosts hammered eight hits and put nine more runs on the board. Jess Warner cranked a three-run home run to left, Cook slammed another triple and Angela Sita cleared the bases with a three-run double to cap the inning.
Huntingtown added six more runs in the fourth to convincingly clinch its spot in the regional final, where the Hurricanes could possibly reacquaint themselves with county rival and two-time defending 3A champ Northern. Huntingtown, which won the 3A title each of its first three years of the school’s existence, has fallen prey to the Patriots in each of the past two seasons.
“Every game is important to us. We’re trying to get further along in the playoffs than we have in the past two years,” Warner said. “Every game is important and we’re trying to get better each and every game. The past two games we’ve been hitting the ball really well, so hopefully it continues in Friday’s game, whoever we play. Hopefully it will be a better result than the past two years.”
Huntingtown lost to the Patriots 5-4 in the teams’ only meeting this season, but will enter the regional final the winners of nine consecutive games. The Hurricanes have outscored the opposition a combined 28-2 in two playoff contests this week.
“This has been a building process,” Johnson said. “We started this last week. The whole concept here was we know to accomplish our goal we have to go five games, but we can only do it one at a time.
“They’ve really worked at it, they’re working up to a regional championship game. We know that’s the big stepping stone. If we can get a regional championship under our belt, that leads us in the direction. We’ve been working hard over the last two weeks towards this week. So far, the hard work’s paid off. I’ve been really impressed with the way the girls have been working.”
Huntingtown 17, Lackey 1
L 0 1 0 0 0 – 1 0 7
H 0 2 9 6 x – 17 14 1
WP: Fears, LP LaBille
2B — Fitzgerald (H), Sita (H), Taylor (H), Santos (H), Sweeney (H); 3B — Cook 2 (H); HR — Warner (H)
E-mail Andy States at astates@smacsportsnet.com
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