Perfect timing : Timely hits propel Lady Bulldogs to state finals
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/65192/
Fa yetteville’s head coach looked up and answered without hesitation. After a 3-0 win over Cabot, and a few struggles in the batter’s box plaguing his team, coach Jason Shirey viewed the quarterfinals win and rusty swings as somewhat of an anomaly Saturday.
“ I suspect we’ll swing the bats a little better Monday, ” he said.
Whatever he said to his team, or however the lineup adjusted in the process, worked for the Lady Bulldogs.
Shirey’s matter-of-fact answer proved correct in the 7-3 win over Bryant in the Class 7 A State Tournament semifinals.
Fayetteville (29-3 ), after a 48-hour layoff, bounced back and banged seven hits and forced several errors. As a result, the Lady Bulldogs are now set for a 10 a. m. matchup Saturday with North Little Rock in the state championship at Lady’Back Yard. A championship three-peat will be on the line for the Lady Bulldogs, who have had their fair share of off and on ball games this season.
There were two losses to Bentonville in the Conway Invitational. And then there was the horrific showing against Elkins in a 10-0, run-rule loss in nonconference action.
But that’s where the losses end.
Somehow, Fayetteville has continued to run-rule 7 A-West teams more often than not, outscoring conference rivals 128-6 this season. A 15-game winning streak and undefeated conference mark has resulted, and school records continue to fall on the way.
Pitching features prominently. Ace Amanda Summerford has struck out a single-season school record 253 batters and now holds the state record for completegame shutouts in a season with 14.
Oh, and as for the struggles at the plate, the team’s batting average this season sits at. 364, also a school record.
But numbers don’t fool Shirey. Timeliness is what matters at the plate.
Against Cabot, back-toback hits were hard to come by and RBIs were few and far between.
“ We’ve got two leadofftype hitters in the nine- and two-spot, ” Shirey said after the Cabot game. “ We got contributions from everyone in the lineup in some shape or fashion. That’s good for me. It’d be nice to string four or five hits together, but with good pitching, it’s not always going to happen that way. ”
It happened Monday in the semifinals, though. The Lady Purple Dogs hit three nice bunts in a row in the sixth inning and also belted three doubles in the sevenhit performance against Bryant’s Christen Kirchner, a winner of 19 games this season.
Morgan Keller was one of those who got a double, including 2 RBIs. She’s now hit in eight consecutive games and leads the team in batting average at a. 490 clip.
Kirchner tried her best to throw off Fayetteville, even sling-shotting the ball without the usual wind-up seen from fast-pitch pitchers.
It didn’t matter, as Fayetteville took a 7-1 lead and never looked back.
Now, Fayetteville hopes to continue to count on the bats Saturday against North Little Rock and junior Jessica Sheldon, who pitched a one-hitter in a 1-0 win over Bentonville in the semifinals Monday. “ We’ll be fine. We’ll compete, ” Shirey said. “ We’ll get in there and get some rips. I thought we did that [against Bryant ]. We had some good swings on inside pitches and we got doubles into the gap and over the left fielder’s head. That’s some good hitting right there. ” FAYETTEVILLE SOFTBALL
NOTEBOOK Junior pitcher Amanda Summerford (22-2 ) is one win shy of the school record for wins in a season, and now holds the school record for strikeouts in a season (253 ) and career (530 )... Right fielder Morgan Keller upped her career school record for doubles to 41 with two more against Bryant on Monday... Keller also holds the school career record for hits (161 ), singles (108 ) and RBIs (107 ), while batting a team-high. 490, which, if holds true, would be a single-season school record... Fayetteville has set singleseason records for home runs (35 ) and strikeouts by a pitcher (304 ).