After winning two games Saturday, New Hope High School softball coach Tabitha Beard thought her team was poised enough to make it a sweep in the nightcap at Propst Park.
For three innings, New Hope was on cruise control with a 2-0 lead against Northeast Lauderdale and had allowed just two batters to reach base.
Then, the team came apart in uncharacteristic fashion.
New Hope committed four errors and misplayed a pair of bunts in the fourth inning which led to a 5-2 loss to Northeast Lauderdale.
Kaylee Nelson started the damage for the visitors, laying down a bunt that scored that scored a run and earned a single after no one covered first base for New Hope (18-5). Another mental miscue followed when a double steal brought in a run when Anna Holley was stranded with a throw from catcher Kasey Stanfield, who had an option at the plate and at second but didn”t make either throw.
Kirsten Meyers laid down a sacrifice bunt to give Northeast Lauderdale a 3-2 lead.
By that point, New Hope was already out of whack, pitcher Lauren Holifield said.
“I felt that once we started making errors and starting breaking down, everybody kind of lost focus and lost confidence, ” Holifield said. “We almost did what we had to do.
“We get tired and things just start falling apart. We need to learn how to keep things together.”
Holifield”s solid performance in the circle was tarnished by her team”s play in the field, as she was responsible for only two of the five runs Northeast Lauderdale (15-10) scored. She didn”t walk a batter in her 4 1/3 innings, and she struck out five.
The one jam Holifield did encounter was in the fifth inning, when she gave up two straight singles before seeing shortstop DJ Sanders boot a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning. Then, third baseman Kaitlin Bradley misplayed a ground ball and allowed a runner to score.
Nelson earned her second RBI single of the game with a hard-hit ball up the middle before Holifield was pulled. Sanders recorded the last two outs of the fifth.
“We”re not really that little small-ball team, but down 2-0 we kept it close all the way through,” Northeast Lauderdale coach Steven Nelson said. “We were able to get that bunt down, then they don”t get the bunter out and then we get another bunt down, then the next thing you know the key hits come and you win the ball game.
“We didn”t play that well against Cleveland this morning, getting beat 2-1. This is a quality program up here and a quality win for us.”
While New Hope struggled in the field, Northeast Lauderdale played error-free and ended the inning by retiring New Hope in order.
Kaylee Nelson led Northeast Lauderdale at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs.
Holifield, who drove New Hope”s second run in the third inning, was one of two New Hope players to record a hit. Jordan Johnson had a single.
After beating Cleveland 4-2 and topping West Lauderdale 4-1 earlier in the day, Beard was disappointed to not finish the day strong.
“You figure out teenage high school girls and we”ll make millions,” Beard said. “We lost focus. I think we were tired. We were up late last night getting fields ready and early today here working, but that”s no excuse.
“When you practice something every day and it doesn”t happen in a game, it”s frustrating for a coach. But we”ll be OK. I just think we”re worn out a little bit.”
New Hope plays at West Lauderdale at 6:15 p.m. Monday.
With the playoffs a little over a week away, Beard hopes the mistake-filled performance in the nightcap is a wake-up call for her players.
“If not, it won”t be a long stint,” Beard said. “They”re gonna push forward or lay down, and I know this team well enough to know they”re not a team that lays down.”
Game 1
New Hope 4, West Lauderdale 1
DJ Sanders gave up two hits and the New Hope High School softball team beat West Lauderdale 4-1 in the second game of their triple-header at Propst Park.
Sanders gave up one run and five walks in six innings to get the win. She struck out two Lady Knights.
Sanders” only hiccup came in the fifth inning when she walked a pair of batters and had a wild pitch that advanced two runners into scoring position.
West Lauderdale”s Ashley Adams had a sacrifice bunt to cut New Hope”s lead to 4-1 but with runners on the corners and two outs Sanders got a fly-ball to end the best scoring chance for West Lauderdale (17-5), which had two runners reach third base in the game.
“DJ”s throwing better,” New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said. “She”s started out a little rough and has gone through spurts, but I feel pretty good about the way she threw that game. We talk a lot about walking the first batter, and she didn”t that a few times but the team had her back.”
New Hope played error-free defense and picked off three base runners.
West Lauderdale coach Cary Luke bemoaned his team”s rustiness, which he said played a big factor in the team dropping two games at Propst and being careless on the base paths.
“It showed today offensively in both of our games,” Luke said. “[Sanders] is one of the better pitchers we”ll see all year. We had some good at-bats and got some runners on, but I don”t think we did a very good job running bases. We acted sluggish all day long, and I think that”s from the week off and not having a game.”
The Lady Trojans manufactured enough runs for the win despite sending no more than five runners to the plate in any of the five innings it batted.
Sanders had an RBI double in the first inning to open the scoring but was tagged out at third on the play.
Kasey Stanfield had an RBI single in the third and led the Lady Trojans at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
In the fourth, Brandi Brantley hit an RBI triple and later scored from third on a passed ball to give New Hope a 4-0 lead.
Though it was far from a dynamite day at the plate against West Lauderdale”s second-string pitcher Joanna Stewart, Beard was pleased to come up with clutch hits after being off for a week.
“They always find a way, and when we needed them they came through,” Beard said. “We just have to keep fighting and they”ll come back.
“I think we”re taking steps in the right direction. We started out really strong, then hit a lull when we went a week without playing a game. I think that sorta got us down a little bit.”
Though Stewart gave up four runs, she pitched a complete game and did so after pitching West Lauderdale”s first game just a few hours earlier.
Starting pitcher Misty Richard had an injured finger and only batted Saturday.
Stewart gave up four runs on seven hits with one walk in five innings. She struck out two.
Luke hopes to have Richards for the rematch Monday at West Lauderdale. First-pitch is set for 6:15 p.m.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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