Published: May 04, 2008 01:52 am            

HHS softball battles back to capture area title

Smith tosses two shutouts to guide Lady Hornets past Houston Waltrip

WALLER — The magical run for the Huntsville Lady Hornets lives on yet another week.

Less than 19 hours after being no-hit by Houston Waltrip pitcher Anne Marie Taylor in a 1-0 game-one loss, Huntsville made the necessary adjustments it needed to at the plate.

The Lady Hornets scratched out 11 hits off Taylor on Saturday which led to a pair of victories, 2-0 and 3-0, and won the Class 4A area-round playoff series over the Lady Rams at Waller High School.

“We worked on hitting before the game and getting where we needed to be in the box,” said Shelby Smith, who was dominant in the circle for 14 innings with four hits and 12 strikeouts. “Once we started hitting, then it just caught on and hitting became contagious. We weren’t going to quit just because she pitched a no-hitter on Friday.”

“The adjustments made at the plate certainly paid off,” Lady Hornets coach Nancy Hopper said. “It shows to the character of the kids that they were willing to work extra hard and listen.”

Smith pushed her three-game series total against the Lady Rams to 21 innings pitched, while allowing just 10 hits and one unearned run to go along with 14 strikeouts.

“I really wanted it today,” Smith said. “The team was motivated and played with a lot of heart.”

Hayley Tatom scored the go-ahead run in the first game and batted in a pair of runs in the second to finish with three hits on the day.

“Right now, I’m really excited because we actually did it,” Tatom said. “Now that we’ve accomplished it, it feels really good.”

Senior Chantel Spretz added three hits as well, and junior Nena Gibson delivered a triple to end Taylor’s shutout bid.

Huntsville will face District 18-4A foe Brenham, which reached the state semifinals last year and is ranked second in the Texas Girls Coaches Association state poll, in the regional quarterfinals later this week.

The Lady Hornets got their first hit of the area-round series when Michelle McGill legged out a single past the diving second baseman in the second inning. Taylor rebounded to strike out Jessica Beardsley and Smith to exit the inning. In the fourth, Tayler Gray laced a double into the left-center gap, but the Lady Hornets couldn’t get her home either.

However, their luck against Taylor changed in the sixth.

With one out, Tatom lined a single down the left-field line. Nena Gibson followed with a liner to center, but Waltrip center fielder Ashley LaBarbera fell down in her tracks. Tatom raced around the bases and Gibson landed on third with a triple.

“That little pitcher (Taylor) is probably one of the best, if not the best pitcher that we’ve seen all year,” Hopper said. “She’s good. She didn’t really change her game plan that much. She was effective even though she lost both games.”

Huntsville added an extra insurance run in the seventh. With one out, Smith was hit by a pitch on her right hand. She didn’t stay on the bags very long, though, as Spretz doubled to the left-center gap to plate Smith.

In the second game Saturday, the two teams played to a stalemate until the bottom of the fifth when the pieces started to fall apart for the Lady Rams.

Smith led off the frame with a single up the middle. Spretz followed with a liner down the first-base line. Jessica Beardsley tapped a grounder to second that forced out Spretz but put runners at the corners with one out.

Then with two outs, Smith raced home on a wild pitch with Sara Vaughn at the plate. Vaughn later reached on an infield single, and Tatom tacked on two more runs with a two-run single to center that gave Huntsville a 3-0 edge.

“I was really excited (at the plate) because we really needed to knock those runs in,” Tatom said.

The Lady Rams threatened in the top of the sixth when three runners reached to load the bases with one out. But thanks to a heads-up play by Gray in center field, who turned a would-be single into a fielder’s choice with a rocket throw to home, the Lady Hornets eventually got out of the jam.

“I knew that we were going to come out and play two games today,” Smith said. “The feeling is much better right now than it was last night. We’re going to the next round. Just because Brenham has already beat us twice doesn’t mean we’re going to lay down. We’re going to come out just as hard and play Lady Hornet softball.”

        

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