Lady Vikes’ freshman delivers knockout punch|[4/22/05]
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 22, 2005
Bridget Dillon hasn’t had many chances to be a hero during her brief career at Warren Central. On Thursday, she got her first opportunity and found it to be a cold, watery experience.
The freshman first baseman lined a single to center in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving WC a 1-0 win over Long Beach in Game 1 of a second-round Class 5A playoff series.
Afterward, Dillon’s teammates mobbed her in the infield and doused her with the contents of the team’s water cooler.
“It was great. I just had it in my mind that I was going to get up there with two strikes or a full count on me and just blow the game,” said Dillon, who was 1-for-4 and didn’t hit a ball out of the infield until her game-winner. “I’m glad that I finally got a hit during this game.”
Dillon’s hit did more than just end a tight, tense ballgame. It gave the Lady Vikes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series and put them one win away from reaching the South State finals for the first time in school history.
WC (22-5) can finish off the series by winning one of two Saturday at Long Beach (20-5-2). Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 11 a.m., with Game 3, if necessary, to follow at 1 p.m.
“We’ve won 20 games this year. We swept last week. They’re coming to our place. We would have to hate to come up here and sweep, so at least we’re at the right place,” Long Beach coach Russ Badeaux said.
Dillon’s single was the biggest moment of the game, but the real story Thursday was pitching and defense.
WC’s Lauren Anderson and Long Beach’s Suzanna Teague traded zeroes for nine tension-filled innings. Anderson didn’t allow a baserunner until Julia Lamy’s leadoff single in the fifth, while Teague relied on her defense and the Lady Vikes’ own mental mistakes to keep her team in the game.
WC had only five hits in the game, hit into three double plays – all on fly balls – and missed a golden opportunity to win the game in the eighth inning.
Under the international tiebreaker rule, Anna Jones was placed on second to start the inning. She was sacrificed to third, and with Brittany Fuller batting, Teague uncorked a wild pitch.
Jones got a late start down the line, though, and had to hold up. The mistake was compounded when Long Beach catcher Shayna Turner overthrew Teague at the plate, likely ensuring Jones would have scored had she come home.
“We did not do as good a job as we normally do. We had some opportunities that we just flat-out blew,” Young said. “A couple of times we were a little too quick off the bag, and other times it seemed like we couldn’t get ourselves off the bag.”
Long Beach missed its own chance to win in the top of the 10th. Ashley Harvey started the inning at second thanks to the tiebreaker, and Lamy followed with a single and stolen base to put runners at second and third with no outs.
Anderson buckled down, though, getting a groundout and the last of her 12 strikeouts for the first two outs. Leslie Cassibry then hit a sinking liner to center that WC’s Cookie Johnson caught at her shoetops while on the run, ending the threat.
“That would have scored a run right there for sure,” Young said. “She just used that God-given speed and got over there and picked that ball up.”
In the bottom of the 10th, Warren Central seemed poised to waste another chance.
Anna Miller started the inning at second base and was bunted to third by Andi Hearn. Jones then struck out and Dillon fell behind in the count 0-2 before hitting the next pitch straight up the middle.
The game-winner almost turned into another heartbreaker for WC, though. Long Beach center fielder Chelsea Paul fielded the ball on one hop and gunned it to first, nearly getting Dillon for an inning-ending forceout.
Paul’s throw was high and wide, however, and sailed past first baseman Maddie Davis to finally bring an end to the game.
“I was just trying to hustle and make my way to first so (Miller) can go ahead and score,” Dillon said, adding that she thought the postgame dunking was for someone else. “I thought they were going to do it on the coach. I’m just happy that I could help us win the ballgame.”