Brittany Brantley has spent most of her senior year on the bench for New Hope High School”s fast-pitch softball team.
But Saturday afternoon”s Senior Day — albeit in Game 2 of the Lady Trojans” first-round playoff series — gave Brantley a chance not only to start, but also to make a contribution as the program continued its latest journey to earn what has become an elusive fast-pitch state title.
Brantley helped New Hope continue on that journey by driving in a run in the second inning in a 2-1 victory against Pearl at Lady Trojans Field.
Coupled with the team”s 9-1 win Friday at Pearl, New Hope will advance to face Lake Cormorant in the second round.
“I don”t really play a lot, so I thank my coaches for trusting me enough to be able to play in this playoff game,” said Brantley, whose pop up to right was New Hope”s lone RBI. “I honestly didn”t think I was going to play. But I”m really glad (coach Tabitha Beard) believed in me.”
Senior Day was originally scheduled last week during New Hope”s final stretch of the regular season. But several games were canceled because of inclement weather, forcing the Lady Trojans to sit idle without game action for 11 days.
Beard believes this partially explains why her squad has struggled — both in the field and at the plate — in recent days, and why Brantley”s play was the offensive highlight, even though the team had eight hits.
“We”ve had a little rough luck and we”ve let it get to us,” Beard said. “We are working really hard to fix it. As a coach, you hope they believe in themselves as much as I believe in them because I know when these girls play ball, there”s nobody better.”
New Hope needed a two-out error by third baseman Jamie Washington in the third with runners on third and second to score the winning run. On the play, Kasey Stanfield grounded to third, where Washington mishandled the ball. Once in her grasp, she overthrew to first.
“It does get your heart racing because you don”t know if you”re going to pull it out,” sophomore Lauren Holifield said of the close game. “But this group of girls; we”re not really a comeback team, but usually when we have the lead, we”re going to keep it.”
Freshman DJ Sanders held Pearl (10-14) to two hits — both by leadoff hitter Macey Lee.
The Lady Trojans, who have won four consecutive slow-pitch state championships, are aiming for their first fast-pitch title. The journey will continue Thursday at Lake Cormorant. New Hope will host the second game of the best-of-three series Saturday.
Beard will spend the days before the second-round series helping her players regain their confidence. She knows inconsistent play didn”t stop the Lady Trojans from advancing this time, but the playoffs get tougher with each win. They can”t allow slower, inconsistent pitchers to curtail their hitting, or lineup changes to affect their nerves, such as Raleighcia James” struggles in center (two errors) and Brandi Brantley”s one-hit performance on her Senior Day.
“We have to get back in our groove,” Beard said.
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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