WC’s Mitchell wins MVP but team falters in MAC All-Star games
Published 12:00 am Monday, June 30, 2003
[6/29/03]DECATUR Warren Central’s Anna Mitchell won the South team MVP for the Mississippi Association of Coaches Slow-Pitch All-Star game, but her team lost both games to the North.
In game 1, the South team, which featured three local players, led 9-5 going into the final inning. But four hits, three errors and five runs later the North took the lead to win 10-9.
The South took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the North answered right back in the top of the second when Ashley Jones of Kossuth led off with a towering shot over the left field wall to tie the score.
The North was held to only one more run in the inning on a bizarre double-play rundown.
In the third inning, the North increased its lead to 5-1, but the South responded with three runs in the bottom half, highlighted by Amy Frazier’s two-RBI triple into left-center field.
The South reclaimed the lead in the fourth inning when Mitchell led off with a single, followed by a single from Vicksburg’s Kelsey Hudson. The South kept the bases loaded for most of the inning and brought in four runs for an 8-5 lead.
Warren Central’s Lyn Strawn scored another run for the South in the fifth inning after leading off with a triple down the left field line. Mitchell then brought in Strawn, who was 1-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI, when she grounded out to second base for a 9-5 lead.
But the North came back in the seventh inning to win the game because of a combination of good hitting by the North and poor fielding by the South.
“I wouldn’t say we gave (the game) away,” said Hudson, who finished the night 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored. “Everybody makes errors, so we knew we were going to come out and make an error whether it was one or 10.”
The North carried its momentum from the final inning of game 1 right into game 2 as it jumped out to a 7-0 lead through the first four innings.
In the fifth inning, the South began to put runs together, but it wasn’t enough. They scored six runs in the final three innings, but lost 17-6.
Candace Liger of Cleveland led the North charge as she hit 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs, four runs scored and five RBIs.
Mitchell, who was 1-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, said she was happy to win the MVP honor and wasn’t very concerned about the outcome of the game.
“I had a lot of fun and we just kept our heads up and just played,” she said. “It was just a fun game and I made a lot of new friends.”
Fast-Pitch All-Star game
In the first game of the fast pitch doubleheader the North All-Stars could do nothing against south pitcher Stephanie Comeaux of East Central.
Comeaux, a Mississippi State signee, held the North squad to only two hits over seven innings, and struck out an incredible 17 batters en route to a 3-0 shutout.
She even helped her own cause with an RBI single in the first inning to drive in Kristin Chaney of Newton county High.
Comeaux’s teammate, Hayle Guess, followed with an RBI double to send in Comeaux and take an early 2-0 lead.
The South added it’s final run in the third inning, when Guess scored on a wild pitch after earlier advancing on an error.
In game two, the South dominated again to take a 7-1 win.
The South scored four runs in the first three innings and added three more over the final two frames while again holding down the North hitters.
Warren Central’s Katie Barnett of the North team went 0-3 in the two games but said she had a good time any way.
“I had a lot of fun,” she said. “I had heard a lot about some of the girls out here, and it was great to finally get to see them play.”