Grapeland Throttles Centerville, 13-3
Big Fifth Inning Paves the Way to Victory
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Sandiettes were coming off of their first district loss in a long time as they welcomed the Centerville Lady Tigers to town for a District 21-2A softball game on Friday, March 22.
Grapeland had dropped a 3-1 decision to the Leon Lady Cougars earlier in the week and in the early stages of the game against Centerville, they still seemed out of sorts.
The Sandiettes fell behind by a score of 3-1 before they appeared to wake up and take care of business by defeating the visiting Lady Tigers by a score of 13-3 in six innings of play.
Cadie Belle Curie was in the circle for the Sandiettes and got off to a rocky start. She walked Kayla Wilson to open the game and then gave up an RBI double to Reileigh Matthews.
Charmayne Hubbell was up next and grounded out to second, but moved Matthews to third on the play. Kameron Hardee followed in the batting order and swung at a called third strike for the second out of the inning.
An error on Grapeland allowed Kaylee Brent to reach first safely and gave Matthews the chance to scamper home to make the score 2-0. Kami Sullivan was up next but Currie caught her looking at strike three to end the inning.
Grapeland got one back in their half of the first inning. Cierra Simon led off the frame with a pop to short, but Diamond Dunn followed with a bunt single. After a wild pitch moved Dunn to second, Cheney Boyd chased her home with a double to center.
Madi McCombs followed with a lofted fly ball to center which gave Boyd enough time to tag and move to third. Currie drew a walk but Boyd was picked off at third to end the inning with the Lady Tigers ahead by a score of 2-1.
A quiet second inning gave way to the third as Centerville tacked on a run. Currie struck out Wilson on three pitches, however, Matthews reached on an error. Hubbell was up next and fouled out for the second out but Hardee followed with a single to move Matthews to second.
Brent was up next, reached on the second error of the inning and gave Matthews just enough time to score. With the score now 3-1, the Sandiettes seemed to regain their focus. Currie fanned Sullivan to end the inning and from that point on, the momentum appeared to be in the Grapeland dugout.
Simon led off the bottom of the third and on the first pitch she saw from Brent, Simon timed it to perfection and drove the ball over the left field fence for a solo HR.
Dunn reached on a bunt and moved to second on a passed ball. Boyd followed her in the order and lofted a fly to center for the first out. Dunn attempted to tag at second but was thrown out at third for the second out.
Now with two outs, the Sandiettes started a mini-rally that resulted in Grapeland taking a 4-3 lead. McCombs reached on an error and Currie followed with a double to left to push her across the plate.
Hailee Gochnour came in as a courtesy runner for Currie and crossed the dish when Jaycee Graham hit a shot that was mishandled. Makayla McCombs was up next and popped out to the pitcher, but the Sandiettes had seized a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish.
Currie worked an easy top of the fourth as she got Averi Hancock to pop out to second, gave up a single to Kay Pyle, caught Emily Wager looking at strike three and got Wilson to hit a soft liner to second for the third out of the inning.
Grapeland pushed their lead to 5-3 in their half of the fourth. After Brent got two quick outs, Simon walked, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on Dunn’s bunt.
After Boyd grounded out to end the Lady Tigers half of the fourth, Currie retired the side in order to open the fifth.
When the Sandiettes came to bat, the offense blew up as it dropped seven runs on Centerville to make it 12-3 after five innings.
Currie struck out the side in the top of the sixth and then the Sandiettes tacked on a run in the bottom of the inning. After Ragan Bowie crossed the plate with Grapeland’s 13th run, the game was called because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Currie picked up the win for Grapeland in six innings of work. She gave up three runs ( one earned) on four hits. She also struck out 13 and walked one. Simon led the Sandies at the plate as she went 2-3 with three runs scored, three RBI, a HR and a base-on-balls.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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