Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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Wednesday, November 5, 2003 |
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Lady Panthers finish 2nd in state By MONROE ROARK Falling one run short in the final game, the Starr’s Mill Lady Panthers capped off a 38-3 season by finishing as the state runnerup in AAAAA fast-pitch softball. Completing a fall campaign that included a 31-game winning streak and only five runs allowed in its final 22 games, the Lady Panthers rebounded from a second-round loss in the state championship tournament in Columbus to win four straight, including a 6-0 victory over Kell in the final round to force a single deciding game for the state title. With that win, Starr’s Mill recorded a victory over each of the other seven teams in the Elite Eight during the 2003 season. Kell defeated both Fayette teams last weekend, winning 2-0 over the Fayette County Lady Tigers in the first round. The Lady Tigers then fell 2-0 to Parkview to finish their season with a 28-13 record. The final coaches poll of the season, released Monday night, has Starr’s Mill ranked second behind Kell, with Collins Hill third. Next in line are Parkview, Eagle’s Landing, Brookwood, Stockbridge and Fayette County. Here is a game-by-game breakdown of the weekend for the Lady Panthers, according to the team’s Web site. Starr’s Mill 2, Parkview 0: Brittany Matthews pitched a no-hitter with seven strikeouts and three intentional walks. Lindsey Walker hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left to score the first run in the third inning. Lynsey Tedford then hit a solo home run in the sixth. Kell 1, Starr’s Mill 0: The Lady Panthers stranded eight runners in the game, leaving the bases loaded in the third. Matthews pitched a three-hitter. Starr’s Mill 2, Eagle’s Landing 0: Starting the long climb from the loser’s bracket to the finals, the Lady Panthers recorded the first of four straight shutouts with this win. Becca Aszman reached on a bunt in the top of the sixth and Jennilee Huddleston walked, and after both advanced on a passed ball, Walker drilled a 2-2 pitch for a hit to score them both. Matthews struck out five and allowed five hits. Starr’s Mill 2, Parkview 0: Matthews and Rebecca Guertin combined for the two-hit shutout, and the offense came through in the fifth. Becca Aszman hit a two-out single, and after Huddleston drew a walk, Tedford launched a shot to left-center that the Parkview outfielder saved from being a home run, but the two-run double was enough for the win. Starr’s Mill 6, Collins Hill 0: The Lady Panthers began play Saturday morning — their first of three consecutive games — by eliminating another Gwinnett County team from the tournament. A four-run first inning included a single by Aszman, a walk to Huddleston, a double by Tedford, a single by Matthews, Ashley Marine reaching on an error and Sarah Huempfner stroking a single to make it 4-0. Matthews pitched the first three innings, retiring nine batters in order, and Guertin scattered three hits the rest of the way, striking out five. Starr’s Mill scored invidivual runs in the third and fourth. Starr’s Mill 6, Kell 0: In the first game of the championship round, the Lady Panthers racked up ten hits and took advantage of five Kell errors to provide plenty of offense. Guertin pitched 4 1/3 innings and gave up four hits and three walks. Matthews came on in relief with the based loaded and one out, slamming the door with a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning. She struck out five in the final 2 2/3 innings. Kell 1, Starr’s Mill 0: The final game of the season went 9 innings, and Matthews went the distance, giving up two hits while striking out seven. Kell’s pitching was even more impressive, as the Lady Panthers fanned 13 times. With the game still scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, the potential winning run got close when Matthews’ sacrifice bunt advanced Carly Taylor to third, but she got no farther. Kell opened the ninth by doing the same thing, and their runner scored from third on a hard groundout. Starr’s Mill got another runner to third in the bottom of the ninth on Ashley Marine’s sacrifice bunt, but Kell closed out the game and took home the state title. All three of the Lady Panthers’ losses in 2003 were by a single run. They outscored their opponents 156-5 over the final 22 games of the season. All six of the team’s seniors — Guertin, Huddleston, Matthews, Marine, Whitney Randolph and Allison DePalma — played together as eighth-graders on the 1999 championship team at Rising Starr Middle School.
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