By By Jeff Byrd/The Meridian Star
Sept. 25, 2001
Thanks to the bottom part of its order Monday night, West Lauderdale finally took a win against county rival Northeast Lauderdale.
The Lady Knights put together a pair of three-run rallies in the third and seventh inning to beat sixth ranked Northeast 7-4 before a good crowd at Northeast Park.
The win was West Lauderdale's seventh straight following last week's 14-11 loss to Northeast at West. The fourth ranked Lady Knights improve to 23-2 on the season.
For Northeast, the loss was its second to a top four team in three days. They fell to 19-3 but still own a season series lead over West at two games to one.
Unlike last week's game which featured 14 errors, both teams were sharp in game three. West, which made nine errors in last week's loss, allowed two this time.
Timely hitting was the difference Monday. The bottom three of West's line-up combined to go 4-for-9 with four runs scored.
For Northeast Coach Chris Harper, it was a second straight game of missed opportunities.
The Lady Knights took command of a scoreless game in the third inning by scoring three runs. It was hitter No. 9 in Jessica Ethridge who started the at-bat with a single up the middle. Brook Bounds, batter No. 10, followed with another hit.
Leadoff batter Courtny Godwin delivered her only hit of the game with a single to right scoring Ethridge. Bounds would score on Hayley Scarborough's ground out. Godwin came around on Kristina Gardner's fly out to center.
The lead grew to 4-0 in the fourth when Emily Jo Havard singled and then scored on a double by No. 8 batter Brittany Mosley.
Northeast got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth when Lauren Webb scored on a fielders choice from Grace Ann Watkins. Three batters later, Amber Gray singled in Watkins to make it 4-2.
It stayed that way to the seventh when Mosley led off by reaching on the Lady Trojans' only error of the game. Ethridge beat out her second hit of the game.
With two out, Scarborough went up the middle to knock in Mosley. Following a walk to Huggins, her fourth of the game, Gardner came through with a two-run hit to center just out of the reach of a diving Watkins. The hit put West up 7-2.
Webb drove in Blair Rawson and Katie Bergin in the bottom of the seventh on a double to account for the game's final score.
Boatner credited his team's title victory at the Madison Central Invitational for the sharper play on Monday.
Gardner finished with three RBIs while Scarborough had two. West had nine hits, but six came in its two big innings.
Northeast had 11 hits. Webb, Watkins and Jana Olzcak all had two hits.
The Lady Trojans will travel to Quitman for a division game on Tuesday. They will host West Jones on Thursday. West Lauderdale returns to action on Thursday at home against Southeast Lauderdale.
Jeff Byrd is a sports writer for the Meridian Star. He can be reached at 693-1551 or by e-mail@themeridianstar.com.