Northeast slips past Meridian
By By Jeff Byrd/The Meridian Star
October 5, 2001
Extra outs proved beneficial for ninth ranked Northeast Lauderdale. The Lady Trojans picked up their 24th win of the season by beating the Meridian Lady Wildcats 8-7 on Thursday night at the Sammie Davidson Complex.
Northeast improves to 24-4 with the win. Meridian falls to 19-10 with the loss. The same two teams meet again on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Northeast Park.
Despite the loss, Meridian Head Coach Thad George said playing such a strong defensive club like Northeast Lauderdale will help when his team begins the 5A playoffs on Oct. 13.
That they did. The Lady Trojans did not secure the win until the final at bat. Left-center-fielder Katie Bergin made a diving grab to retire Meridian's Stephanine Nelson for the game-ending out.
The catch left the speedy Stephanie Mosley stranded on second with the potential tying run. Mosley had reached with two out when she beat out a grounder to second. She then advanced a base on hit by Eron Hodges.
The Lady Trojans, however, made just one error compared to six errors committed by Meridian. Three of the miscues came in a key two-run rally in the sixth that put Northeast up 8-5.
Both teams scored a pair of runs in the first. Raleigh Odom drilled a two-run single for Northeast for a 2-0 lead. A two-run triple by Meridian's Andra Daniels tied it in the bottom half of the inning.
The Lady Trojans snapped the tie in the third sending up all 10 batters. Six got hits and that produced four runs for a 6-2 lead. Jennifer Bristow's single up the middle knocked in two of the runs.
Meridian came back in the fourth when Carcena Blanks belted a one-out triple into left-center scoring Daniels and Laura Bowles to make it 6-4. Blanks later scored on Ashley Brown's ground out.
Two hits and three Meridian infield errors chased home two Northeast runs in the sixth to make it 8-5.
Meridian got the runs back in its half of the sixth when Brown drove in Bowles and Blanks on a hit to right-center.
Meridian finished with 13 hits. Brown led the way going 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Blanks drove in two and scored two off two hits. Daniels and Hodges each had two hits.
Northeast Lauderdale also had 13 hits. They were paced by Bristow and Odom who each knocked in two off two hits. Amber Gray and Jana Olzcak each had two hits while Bergin scored two runs.
Jeff Byrd is a sports writer for the Meridian Star. He can be reached at 693-1551 or by e-mail at j.byrd@themeridianstar.com.