Bench carries WC to first-round win|[10/11/06]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Warren Central’s bench came through in a big way in clinching a first round playoff series from George County Tuesday at Lady Vikes Field.
Keke Prentiss and Anna Griffing each had a pinch-hit, RBI hit in the fifth inning to highlight a three-run rally and deliver a 6-5 victory in Game 2 of the Class 5A series against George County. WC won the first game, 5-4.
WC (21-7) advances to host a second round series against Brandon on Saturday. Starting times have not been determined. George County ended its the season at 10-15.
The Lady Vikes found themselves trailing George County 4-3, with two out in the top of the fifth inning, when Prentiss came to the plate. The junior has been the Lady Vikes’ most productive bat off the bench this season. She came through again, lacing a double into left-center to score Kari Lieberman and Fran Brown.
“My coach tells me to keep my knuckles together and put the Prentiss booty into the swing,” Prentiss said of her swinging ability that almost always produces a shot to deep left-center.
“I work my best to try and stay ready. But I realize we have a good team and they are good players who are ahead of me,” Prentiss, a junior, said.
Up 5-4, senior Fatima Chase got a hit to move Prentiss to third base and then sophomore Anna Griffing, pinch-hitting in the 10th spot, delivered WC’s second big hit of the inning with a soft single to score Prentiss for a 6-4 lead.
“It’s pretty exciting to come in and hit. I was pretty pysched, but I was also pretty nervous, too,” Griffing said.
The Lady Vikes needed Griffing’s hit because George County put together a last at bat rally in the seventh.
Amber Carpetner delivered a one-out double and Paige Fairley followed with a single to put the tying run on. A grounder to WC’s Kari Lieberman at second forced out Whitney Welford as the Lady Vikes traded a run for an out.
Lady Vike pitcher Mandy Fuller then induced a comebacker to the mound to get Hannah Kittrell to end the game and series with WC atop 6-5.
“Our bench made a difference,” WC coach Lucy Young said. “Keke did a great job getting us that double and Anna got us a good hit. We know they are capable of doing it, we just hope to try and time it right and we did there in the fifth inning.”
George County built a 3-0 lead after its first at-bat, getting a double from Blaire Sumrall and a single from Chelce Smith.
WC came back with three runs in the second off three hits and two Lady Rebel errors. Mandy Fuller knocked in two of the runs with a two-out single to left.
George County took a 4-3 lead in the fourth when Smith singled for the second time in the game and then scored on Megan McLeod’s two-out hit.
Smith and Paige Fairley led George County in the series with four hits.
Bridget Dillon led WC with two hits in each game. Fuller drove in a team high three runs off three hits.
WC 5, George County 4.
WC scored all five of its runs in the first inning to take a 5-1 lead. George County trimmed away, getting two in the third and one in the fifth to make it 5-4.
Defense keyed the Lady Vikes in the final two George County at-bats. Three pop ups ended the sixth and then third baseman Fran Brown snagged a line drive to end Game 1 with the tying run on first base.
“We felt like we were pretty evenly matched,” George County coach Bruce Thornton said. “We gave up those runs in the first inning of the first game and that put us in a hole and then they got some big pinch hits in the second game.”