Warriors complete sweep of Colonels

May 4, 2011

By Mark Sawyer

Special to The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY- The last time Sherando and James Wood met on the softball field, the rivals played a classic extra-inning game that the Warriors won in nine innings.

Neither team had lost since then, setting up a crucial - and much awaited - rematch Tuesday at Bennington Field.

Sherando survived a first inning scare, then rode the right arm of ace Amanda Lutz and the bat of senior left fielder Shelby Riley to a 3-1 come-from-behind win, giving the Warriors a two-game lead in the Northwestern District with just three games remaining.

"Obviously [James Wood is] a very good team, and you'd expect it to be a close game like it was," Sherando coach Garry Sawyer said. "The girls stayed focused, and we put the bat on the ball there at first and got some good hits. We had some good at-bats tonight, I thought, and played good solid defense." Hitting behind the likes of all-district performers Lutz and

Kourtney Paige all season, Riley hasn't necessarily gotten much recognition. But she made sure everyone noticed her Tuesday night.

Riley went 2 for 3 with a pair of critical RBIs as the Warriors picked up their eighth straight win.

"This was a really important game," Riley said. "This is a big win. James Wood is one of our toughest games. I was happy, I was excited. I just wanted to get on base and get people around."

The Colonels (11-3-1, 3-2) showed right off the bat that they were over the loss in the first meeting and were ready to battle.

Junior Morgan Sykes led off with a single and Rachael Largent followed with another. After a sacrifice by Erin McCarthy put two runners in scoring position, Kierstyn Peacoe was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Sophomore Charlotte Viands then put the Colonels on the board with an RBI fielder's choice, and the Colonels barely missed adding to the lead when Megan Christian's line drive was snagged to end the rally.

Sherando (14-1, 5-0) answered immediately with a run in the bottom of the first to tie the game. With one out, Lutz singled to left, and she moved up on a ground out by Paige.

After working the count and fouling off several pitches, Riley finally got one she liked and shot a single to right to score Lutz and make it 1-1.

"I didn't want to strike out, mainly," Riley said. "I know I needed to get the bat on the ball. I wanted to get Amanda at least to third and move her around. That's what I did, and I got her home."

Sawyer said the early deficit was never treated like an issue.

"We didn't even mention in between innings getting down by a run, because in the course of a game you've got to play seven innings, and one run generally is not gonna win the game," he said. "We still gotta play ball and get our runs."

Peacoe (9-2) struck out the side in order in the second.

It wasn't until the third that the Warriors would get to her again. Jesse Seymour led off the inning by drilling a triple to the fence in left, and she scored on a groundout by Lutz to make it 2-1.

The Warriors weren't finished. Paige started another rally by lofting a single to center. With Riley at the plate, Paige stole second and moved to third when the throw went into center field. Riley then stroked her second RBI single of the game to make it 3-1.

With the lead, Lutz took over and retired 12 of the next 15 hitters to end the game. The only other trouble she ran into was in the sixth inning, when the Colonels got two runners on base but were unable to get a clutch two-out hit.

Wood totaled seven hits off Lutz, with the top four hitters in the lineup (Sykes, Largent, McCarthey, and Peacoe) going a combined 5 for 11. The only other two hits for the Colonels were from freshman Whitney Dick.

"This is gonna hurt a little bit, but we'll get up tomorrow," James Wood coach Ted McDaniel said. "We're playing good ball, we just couldn't get that big hit tonight. ...

"Sherando's a veteran team, and they've been through this all before. This is all new for us. Sherando was the better team today, and they deserve a lot of credit."

The Warriors had eight hits, led by Riley and Jesse Seymour with two apiece.

Seven of the eight came from the top five hitters in the order, with the only other one being a pinch-hit single by Katie Seymour in the fourth.