Wood Softball Routs Clarke, 10-0

Posted: March 30, 2016
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood sophomore catcher Lindsey Anderson provided plenty of offense and sophomore pitcher Lani Spielman proved to be almost untouchable in Tuesday’s non-district softball game against Clarke County at Ridge Field.

Anderson went 3 for 3 with a walk, a home run and two doubles, and Spielman tossed a one-hit shutout and struck out eight in the Colonels’ 10-0 victory over the Eagles that was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.

“We’ve pitched and played pretty good defense all year but we’ve really struggled at the plate,” said James Wood coach Todd Baker. “We’ve been focusing on [hitting] and we’ve got a lot of offense on this team and it hasn’t been showing. Finally, the big guns started coming out tonight and we hit with some power. We did some small ball, too, and it really worked well.”

The Colonels (3-2) took control with the long ball in the bottom of the first, getting solo homers to right-center field from lead-off hitter Courteney Harper and Anderson.

Anderson faced a 2-2 count against Clarke starter Jade Feltner, before connecting on a fastball for a towering homer to the opposite field in right-center.

“My whole at-bat I was just looking for a pitch outside,” Anderson said. “I had two strikes so I was just trying to protect the plate and I got [the outside pitch].”

With a 2-0 lead after the first inning, Spielman (3-1) kept Clarke County off balance by mixing speeds and working both sides of the plate.

She retired Clarke (2-1) in order in both the first and second innings, recording three strikeouts.

The top of the Colonels’ batting order — Harper, Alyssa Brown, Anderson and Lauren King — combined for eight of Wood’s 10 hits, seven runs and eight RBIs. Harper, who went 2 for 2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored, walked to start the third and advanced to second after an infield single by Brown.

Anderson followed, driving in both with a two-run double on a sharply-hit grounder past shortstop that reached the fence in left-center.

The Colonels nearly broke the game open with bases loaded in the third, but Clarke right fielder Whitney Mitchell made a nice running grab in the right-field corner near the foul line, denying Haley Kaiser of a bases-clearing hit to end the inning.

Spielman retired the first eight Clarke batters she faced until No. 9 hitter Mitchell reached on an infield single, but that proved to be the Eagles’ lone hit.

James Wood added four more runs in the fourth. Taylor Woolsey (1 for 3, two runs scored) singled to start the inning, Harper walked. After a wild pitch moved Woolsey to third and Harper to second, Brown bunted, allowing Woolsey score on the fielder’s choice. Anderson followed with her second double, driving in Harper and Brown to extend the Colonels’ lead to 7-0.

The Colonels added another run after courtesy-runner Emma Van Horn scored on an errant throw on a steal attempt at third.

With an 8-0 advantage, Spielman struck out at least one Clarke batter in every inning and never allowed an Eagle runner to reach second base until Tifani Adams walked and went to second on a groundout in the top of the fifth.

From there, Spielman struck out Molly Lanham and got Megan Hicks swinging at an off-speed pitch to end the inning.

Spielman credited the team’s offense for plenty of run support.

“My pitching was better, but it was really just all the line drives and great hits we had,” said Spielman, who walked just one and faced just 17 batters in the five-inning victory. “It’s pretty big. We’ve been waiting to get the bats going and we really did this game.”

After James Wood’s Sarah Garis and Woolsey each reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth, Clarke relief pitcher Megan Hicks walked Harper to load the bases with one out.

Brown’s RBI groundout scored Garis, and Clarke intentionally walked Anderson to load the bases.

With two outs, King (2 for 4) followed with an RBI single to center to score Woolsey to end it.

Clarke County coach Susan Grubbs said her team scouted the Colonels last week, but it’s not easy to prepare for a pitcher like Spielman.

“We didn’t have very many quality at bats,” said Clarke County coach Susan Grubbs. “[Spielman] is a good pitcher and we really haven’t seen a pitcher that fast all year.”

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.