Local News - March 2003

Lady Mustangs lose

TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer

March 12, 2003 - DENVER — Just when it seemed East Lincoln girls softball team was going to roll to another win, South Caldwell exploded for seven runs in the sixth to win the game 11-6 Monday.

South Caldwell put together an inning you just don’t see everyday in high school softball.

The first Lady Spartan to come up was Jessica Ford who promptly smacked a pitch over the center field fence.

After another run scored Alexis Anderson cranked out a bases-loaded double to right center. Three more runs came in. The next batter Ashley Jones drilled another pitch high and deep of the left-center field fence for two more runs.

The Lady Spartans stopped East the rest of the way to win.

“They have a tough team,” said East coach Scott Spohler. “That’s the best batting I’ve seen in this park in a long time. They hit the ball hard. They hit the ball well. They found holes in our defense.”

But before the South Caldwell fireworks East Lincoln was riding smoothly.

After trailing 4-2 going into the bottom of the third, East scored three runs to take the lead.

In that inning, second baseman Amanda Goodson led off with a double, Nicole Shoemaker singled her over to third. That’s when Stephanie Edwards slapped a single to bring Goodson in.

With two on, Stephanie Edwards spanked a pitch into the right-center gap. Shoemaker and Edwards scored easily but Horne was thrown out at third.

In the fifth, Goodson led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored by beating a throw home from the shortstop.

Things looked good at that point.

But South Caldwell pulled it out.

“It was a tough loss,” Spohler said. “But our No. 1 goal is still to win the (Big South 3-A) conference championship (for the second straight season). It’s non-conference play. I’m still putting this team together. I’m still moving players around. We’ll be ready when conference starts next week.”

East had extra chances to score in the game. The Lady Mustangs left a run on in the first, two on in the fourth (but Jessica Towery lined out to second for the final out) and a man on second in the seventh but couldn’t get them in.

Despite the loss, a couple of Lady Mustangs had an exceptional day at the plate.

Shoemaker had three singles in four at bats while Horne hit a pair of doubles to go 3-for-4 with three runs batted in.

 Goodson had a hit and walked twice. She scored two runs.

Edwards was hit by a pitch and got a hit off of a pitch nth game. She scored twice and knocked in a run.

East will host Bandys today.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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