State Playoffs 3A

The Star

............from Shelby has a write-up but i think neither writer or coach knows that the State Tournament isnt in CARY, its in Raleigh at last check!

Nice job by Larhonda McClain and Brooke Blackburn with their hitting

not to mention young Sosebee pitching in relief to stop the young guns from Kings Mtn :applause:

Link: http://www.shelbystar.com/portal/ASP/article.asp?ID=9822

 

one sided mind

Fence, evidently you were hearing just one side, you need to wake up and realize that fans from both sides were excited and talking a little to much. And maybe next yearr we just might get to play another play-off game on your bueatiful field. Not to take away from and exciting game from all of the good fans on both sides both teams played hard but there were alot of mistakes made under a lot of pressure. Hope KM learns from this big game and good luck to Enka in raliegh you have a team that can win it all.

 

cfastpitch

didnt have anyone there
im one of those who cares 1A parents
just went to watch a game
i heard both sides
and stand by my statement
and agree it was a great game
never said flawless
hmmmm wonder why you assumed i was talking about km fans
i didnt see that i said that

 

i am ready to go to the State Capitol area
for the championship already

neutral observers were inabundance there last nite

 

fans and field

fence,
I took your quote the same way cfastpitch44 did. I was going to let it go, but i can't ..it was offensive. I read it several hours ago and I feel I must comment. First of all, I am happy that this comment did not come from an Enka fan. I enjoy reading this message board because most of the comments are so positive. I hate the board is sometimes scarred by comments like this. It did sound as though you were throwing off on KM's field and fans. I don't know what the field looks like where you reside, but I think we do pretty good with the resources we have. We try to improve it a little at a time. Most of the money alloted to the softball program goes to uniforms, bats and balls. You just don't know what it looked like 5 years ago. To say things like you said and be judgemental about obnoxious fans and then to degrade a thriving softball program's facilities, does not make sense to me. I don't think it is important which fans you were talking about. I think the point is there were very competitive fans at the game that have a passion for a game they have watched their daughters put a lot of effort into over a long period of time. That is the same competitiveness that was bred into their daughters and is probably the reason those teams are so successful. Have you ever been to an athletic event that was that close and important where the fans were not intense? If you say yes, I will go ahead and say, I do not believe you. I do not recall ever being at a football, basketball, baseball, soccer,or whatever kind of game that was important and close where fans did not show intense emotion and yes even become obnoxious at times. That is part of an exciting game!!! duh...I do not appreciate your comment and think it was uncalled for. I do not wish for you to not stand by your statement because I truly believe you speak as you perceive, which to me is very shallow. I apologize for being negative. But I hope everyone understands I am defending a program like all successful programs where hard work and sacrifice are at a premium. It is difficult to stand by and do nothing when someone throws off on it.

 

Katie Miller (with towel on face) and Julia Burrus are emotional after the Manteo softball team lost at Harnett Central 2-1 Thursday in the third round of the state 3A playoffs. It left the Redskins one victory shy of the State 3A Softball Final Four. Photo by Owen A. Hassell


Trojans hurler fans Redskins to leave team shy of Final 4
BY OWEN A. HASSELL, SENTINEL STAFF


ANGIER (May 27) - Two years later, Harnett Central got the last laugh and the home field.

The Trojans softball team beat Manteo 2-1 Thursday in the third round of the state 3A playoffs.

Two years ago, the then-host Redskins rallied in the second round against Harnett to win.

It was the Redskins (22-3) who needed a rally, and could not convert in the seventh, as Trojans pitcher Lauren Caviness struck out Kristen Dalton looking for the final out.

For Caviness, it was her 15th strikeout of the contest, and for Manteo, high hopes of winning and being in the State 3A Softball Final Four next weekend in Raleigh went up in flames with each Caviness K.

The Final Four slot now belongs to the Trojans (19-7) for the second-straight season.

"She's (Caviness) by far the best we've ever seen, but we did enough to make runs," MHS coach Walt Davis said. "If we scratched out one run, play good solid defense, we'd win the ballgame, but we gave up more than we scored, but I thought we could get one and if we got one, we would win.



"We didn't do enough defensively tonight to win and that was the key."

Harnett Central, the No. 1 seed out of the Big Eight South, scored its two runs on an error in the second inning.

After Lauren Taylor got a leadoff single, Jamie Merrick hits towards pitcher Katie Miller. Miller went for the fielder's choice at second, but Taylor was called safe.

A bunt by Kayleigh Snyder gave MHS third baseman Amanda Stanley plenty of options for the out, or two outs. Three bases presented themselves as targets.

She shifted towards second, saw no play and hurried it to first, throwing it high above first baseman Lauren Craddock's head. Taylor and Merrick both scored, making it 2-0 Harnett Central.

"We got runners in scoring position and Kayleigh made a nice bunt and for whatever reason, they (Manteo) were out of position that one time and that's what wins these ballgames," Harnett Central coach Craig Rogers said. "This is high quality softball and one mistake can make a difference."

One mistakes can make a difference, just depending on the magnitude of the mistake. There was more involved in defeat than the lone play, Davis said.

"The ball came hard to her (Stanley) and it got to her a little bit hard and the play's at third base," Davis said. "If it's short you have to come up for it, you got to go one then you don't have a play, but the ball was hard and that's irrelevant. I think the infield was thinking double play situation and we just didn't make it happen and that's just one play out of a whole bunch.

"It's no different than not getting the bunt down or it's no different than not getting a hit. It's all a strategy thing of making plays and we didn't make a lot of plays today and they made enough to win."

The Trojans, when Caviness was not able to strike out players, had some of their own troubles on the field.

Julia Burrus got on first off a bunt in the third, then after a sacrifice bunt by Kilby Davis to put Burrus at second, a short hit to first by Heather Bridges got another player thinking different options, this time Harnett Central's Brittney Surles.

Surles ended up slipping in the infield dirt and throwing it into right field, bringing Burrus in for a 2-1 game.

Caviness ended the top of the frame by striking out Sarah Joy Daniels.

Two of the team's best hitters in Miller and Stanley were frozen at the plate, striking out a combined six times, three each.

In the first 23 pitches thrown by Caviness, three were balls.

Caviness has gone more than four games without a walk, and also went walkless with the Redskins.

In the team's 1-0 win against C.B. Aycock in the second round, she had 92 strikes and 22 balls, some of those intentional to keep batters off-balance, Rogers said.

"That's Lauren Caviness night in and night out," Rogers said. "She's an amazing pitcher, she's very smart and works hard at what she does, and the catcher works hard and very rarely do I call pitches. They're like hand and glove, they work well together."

The sixth and seventh frames were Manteo's best chances to at least get runners on base, with the slap hitter Bridges to leadoff in the sixth.

She hit it to first for the tag out, then Andrus popped up in foul territory to third, and a short pop to second by Daniels ended the threat.

Add in Miller and Stanley's strikeouts to begin the top of the seventh, and the 'Skins were scratching to get any offense.

Craddock came in for a short single to right and beat the play at first.

It was not enough, Dalton was caught looking high after going for a high pitch for a bunt to make it a 2-2 count.

"If we could make some plays and get some things done, but we got more people around the bases then they've had all year (on them)," Davis said. "We just didn't have the timely hit or timely run or something like that, just a very, very tough ballgame for us.

"I thought we'd make it this year, and I thought we'd get there, and we just came up a little short and it hurts."

Miller still had a big performance in her own right in the pticher's duel, fanning eight and giving up just three hits in six innings.

Caviness and Miller knew each other well from playing on traveling teams, and met afterwards.

"She's (Miller) a wonderful pitcher and I knew she was a very capable pitcher," Caviness said. "A lot of games like this come down to errors, couple of hits, to get hits and string them together. I guess we got lucky in that sense because ours wasn't compounded into causing more than one run.

"They're (MHS) a very capable team and it could've gone either way."

Either way, and gone away is the chance for a senior-laden team to go to the Final Four and play for a state title.

"I just wish we could've made that next step, that was our goal and just came up a little bit short," Davis said. "But what these girls have done is not short, I'm just as proud of them as I could be."

 

http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/sports/55673

Here you go....photo of the fast CF for Kings Mountain scoring from second...I believe her name was Larhonda....My DD told me last night when she finally got home after the game..."that girl sure is fast"...simple but so truthful. Good Luck to KM and their summer ball schedule... :applause:

 

As a footnote to Manteo’s great season, Greenbrier Christian just won the state championship in Virginia in their division with a 26-3 record. Two of those three losses came to Manteo.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=71044&ran=169102

Great Bridge HS of Virginia has won the Southeastern District Championship, one of the toughest districts in the state for large schools. Manteo pounded Great Bridge soundly during the regular season.

With Miller on the mound this season Manteo lost only to Harnett Central and 4A D.H. Conley, the Big East champs and at one time ranked as high as #4 in the state, by one run in eight innings.

 

Nice video presentation on Lauren Caviness:

http://www.wral.com/video/3327124/detail.html

 

Outstanding Job Miss Caviness :applause:

and thanks TP for sharing!