OCHS Softball edges Louisa, controlls tournament

By Liz Keller
Media General News Service
By Devan Grayson
Review Sports Correspondent
Published: April 17, 2008

Tuesday’s Jefferson District matchup between Louisa County and Orange County was a prime example of what high school softball is all about.
The game was dominated by stellar pitching on both sides, and each team produced several hits apiece.
But in the end, it all came down to miscues and missed opportunities. The Hornets finally got the upper hand, as they scratched across two runs in the eighth inning off of botched plays by the Lions’ infield to prevail 3-2.
Freshman Micalah Sacre helped power Orange to the win as she kept the Lions’ off-balance all afternoon with her fastball. Sacre recorded 19 strikeouts and gave up four hits as she helped the Hornets stay unbeaten in district play.
“Both teams played hard - we got some breaks, they got some breaks, and they finally were able to hit the ball there at the end, and we got a couple of extra runs,” said Orange coach John Henry Ryder. “[Sacre’s] got a little nick on her, but she threw it pretty well tonight.”
Not to be outdone was Louisa’s Meagan Lesser, who had an outstanding outing of her own, as she gave up four hits and recorded 13 strikeouts.
However, the Hornets (9-2, 3-0 Jefferson District) made the most of their opportunities on base, and the Lions squandered opportunities. In fact, Louisa left runners on base in nearly every inning — 11 stranded in all.
“It happened to be at the inopportune moments that we got outplayed,” said Louisa assistant coach Canaan Perkins. “It was a tight game the whole time, and at the end we messed up and they didn’t. We got outplayed.”
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning, when Orange took a 1-0 lead after Christina Spencer scored on a passed ball. In the sixth inning, Sacre walked Jessica Agee and Lesser before striking out the next two batters. The speedy Agee, who stole second base, later scored on a passed ball to tie the game.
Louisa had a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh, after Sacre hit two batters to get the Lions on base. But Sacre recorded three strikeouts to get out of the jam.
In the eighth, Spencer led off the inning for Orange with an infield hit to second base. The Louisa second baseman scooped up the grounder, but was unable to make the play because no one covered first base. Spencer later scored on Megan Roberts’ triple to left-center field. The Hornets added an insurance run as Roberts scored on an error on the first baseman.
Ryder was pleased with his pitcher’s performance, but knows the team needs to put its hits together in order to be successful.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Ryder said. “We need to get focused on swinging at good pitches, and we’ve got to hit the ball if we’re going to win.”

On Saturday, the varsity softball team controlled the tournament at Broadway, defeating both Hidden Valley and Broadway to bring home yet another trophy and improve their record to 8-2.
In the first game against Hidden Valley, the girls were forced to play into extra innings, scoring five times in the eighth to win the game 8-3.  In the middle of the eighth, Junior Kate Searcy had a beautiful double knocking in two runs to begin the Hornet’s domination.  Freshman pitcher Michala Sacra struck out 13 batters.
In the second game of the tournament, the Hornets worked together on the field to conquer Broadway 4-3 and secure the trophy.  Junior pitcher Heather Jenkins struck out 13 batters and scored the decisive run in the bottom of the ninth by stealing home.  Runs were also scored by Sacra, and Sophomore Paige Pritchett.  Pritchett and Jenkins were both able to take advantage of errors made by Broadway and score for the Hornets.  Sacra was named defensive player of the tournament for her performance on the mound.
The girls will play again on April 18 away at Western Albemarle.