Softball
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Forrest takes bite out of Lady Bulldogs in 7-0 shutout
The Forrest Lady Rockets are now just two wins away from repeating as state champions after dismantling the heavy hitting Cornersville Lady Bulldogs 7-0 in a small ball clinic Wednesday at the Blue Cross Spring Fling.
Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham said after the contest, “I think we proved it again that you put the pressure on the defense and make them make plays. Either you make them or we are on base.”
Cheatham added, “When you play sound defense and put the ball in play and make the defense make plays, you give yourself a chance.”
The loss by Cornersville was the first this season to a Class A school and the seven run deficit was the largest of the year for the Lady Bulldogs. Before Wednesday, Cornersville had outscored their opponents 56-5 in the postseason.
The mighty keep falling at Forrest’s feet and now the Lady Rockets are back to a place where most pundits and predictors said they could not reach.
Face to face with mighty Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) in the winner’s bracket final tonight.
The road back for Cornersville will be a tough one, beginning with a loser’s bracket game this morning versus Brooke Thomas and the Huntingdon Lady Mustangs. Thomas has only surrendered 5 runs the entire postseason and Huntingdon will be looking to exact some revenge on a Cornersville team that sent them home last year on a walk-off home run by Lindsey Dalton.
If the Lady Dawgs get past Huntington they will play the first game of the night-cap tonight versus the winner of other loser’s bracket game that pits Friendship Christian vs. Chattanooga Grace.
Cornersville beat Chattanooga Grace 1-0 in ten innings in the first round Tuesday.
The very first inning was indicative of the way things would go for Cornersville the entire game as Forrest hurler Shelby Stinnett stuck to the game plan of keeping the ball low in the strike zone and out of the Lady Dawg’s green zone.
Cornersville went 1-2-3 on two infield ground-outs and a pop-up to second.
Stinnett gave up single hits in the second, third, and fifth innings and would induce 14 ground ball outs and 4 infield pop-ups in the ballgame, hitting her spots with pinpoint precision the entire contest.
Cheatham said about Stinnett’s performance, “Hats off to Shelby Stinnett, she did an excellent job of holding them down. Cornersville is one of the better hitting teams. I saw them hit the cover off the ball last week. We like to keep it on the infield.”
Forrest got on the board in the bottom of the second when Heather James smacked a one-out single to right field. After a pop-out for the second out, freshman Adrean Jordan belted a triple into the right field gap, easily scoring James from first base.
The pitchers duel between Stinnett and Cornersville’s Savannah Cole continued to the bottom of the fifth when the Lady Rockets mixed power with speed, putting the game away for good, scoring six runs.
Haley Mathis started the 5th inning burst with a leadoff single and advanced to second when Cole uncorked a wild pitch.
Brianda Elmore stepped to the dish, batting left handed in an attempt to move the runner over. After the count went to 3-2, Elmore turned around to bat right handed and blasted a long drive off the center field fence that just missed leaving the park. Elmore had a stand-up triple and Forrest led 2-0.
A 5-3 put-out kept Elmore at third with one out.
Rachel Curtis came to the batter’s box and got the squeeze sign from Cheatham. Curtis got a high pitch from Cole and punched the ball over Cole’s head into centerfield, scoring Elmore for a 3-0 lead.
Cole struck out James, but the ball got away from the Cornersville catcher, allowing James to reach first base. Curtis scored on the play and James wound up on the second base bag.
Cole got out number two on a strikeout, but Jordan reached on another Cornersville error, putting runners at the corners. Things began to unravel for Cornersville as Caitlyn Rotchford also reached on an infield error, sending James across the plate for run number 5.
Ciara Cook came in to run for Rotchford and promptly stole second base.
Jessica Hunt, who delivered the game winner at Houston County, came through once again in the clutch, depositing a two strike change-up into center field that scored both runners, making it 7-0.
That was all Stinnett would need as she set down the Lady Bulldogs 1-2-3 in the both the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings for the victory, sending Forrest to winner’s bracket and Cornersville down to the loser’s bracket portion of the tournament.
Forrest head coach Becky Cheatham said after the contest, “I think we proved it again that you put the pressure on the defense and make them make plays. Either you make them or we are on base.”
Cheatham added, “When you play sound defense and put the ball in play and make the defense make plays, you give yourself a chance.”
The loss by Cornersville was the first this season to a Class A school and the seven run deficit was the largest of the year for the Lady Bulldogs. Before Wednesday, Cornersville had outscored their opponents 56-5 in the postseason.
The mighty keep falling at Forrest’s feet and now the Lady Rockets are back to a place where most pundits and predictors said they could not reach.
Face to face with mighty Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) in the winner’s bracket final tonight.
The road back for Cornersville will be a tough one, beginning with a loser’s bracket game this morning versus Brooke Thomas and the Huntingdon Lady Mustangs. Thomas has only surrendered 5 runs the entire postseason and Huntingdon will be looking to exact some revenge on a Cornersville team that sent them home last year on a walk-off home run by Lindsey Dalton.
If the Lady Dawgs get past Huntington they will play the first game of the night-cap tonight versus the winner of other loser’s bracket game that pits Friendship Christian vs. Chattanooga Grace.
Cornersville beat Chattanooga Grace 1-0 in ten innings in the first round Tuesday.
The very first inning was indicative of the way things would go for Cornersville the entire game as Forrest hurler Shelby Stinnett stuck to the game plan of keeping the ball low in the strike zone and out of the Lady Dawg’s green zone.
Cornersville went 1-2-3 on two infield ground-outs and a pop-up to second.
Stinnett gave up single hits in the second, third, and fifth innings and would induce 14 ground ball outs and 4 infield pop-ups in the ballgame, hitting her spots with pinpoint precision the entire contest.
Cheatham said about Stinnett’s performance, “Hats off to Shelby Stinnett, she did an excellent job of holding them down. Cornersville is one of the better hitting teams. I saw them hit the cover off the ball last week. We like to keep it on the infield.”
Forrest got on the board in the bottom of the second when Heather James smacked a one-out single to right field. After a pop-out for the second out, freshman Adrean Jordan belted a triple into the right field gap, easily scoring James from first base.
The pitchers duel between Stinnett and Cornersville’s Savannah Cole continued to the bottom of the fifth when the Lady Rockets mixed power with speed, putting the game away for good, scoring six runs.
Haley Mathis started the 5th inning burst with a leadoff single and advanced to second when Cole uncorked a wild pitch.
Brianda Elmore stepped to the dish, batting left handed in an attempt to move the runner over. After the count went to 3-2, Elmore turned around to bat right handed and blasted a long drive off the center field fence that just missed leaving the park. Elmore had a stand-up triple and Forrest led 2-0.
A 5-3 put-out kept Elmore at third with one out.
Rachel Curtis came to the batter’s box and got the squeeze sign from Cheatham. Curtis got a high pitch from Cole and punched the ball over Cole’s head into centerfield, scoring Elmore for a 3-0 lead.
Cole struck out James, but the ball got away from the Cornersville catcher, allowing James to reach first base. Curtis scored on the play and James wound up on the second base bag.
Cole got out number two on a strikeout, but Jordan reached on another Cornersville error, putting runners at the corners. Things began to unravel for Cornersville as Caitlyn Rotchford also reached on an infield error, sending James across the plate for run number 5.
Ciara Cook came in to run for Rotchford and promptly stole second base.
Jessica Hunt, who delivered the game winner at Houston County, came through once again in the clutch, depositing a two strike change-up into center field that scored both runners, making it 7-0.
That was all Stinnett would need as she set down the Lady Bulldogs 1-2-3 in the both the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings for the victory, sending Forrest to winner’s bracket and Cornersville down to the loser’s bracket portion of the tournament.
