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Lady Leopards maul Community
BY Kevin Hageland khageland@acnpapers.com
PROSPER — The storm clouds gathered over the softball field at Prosper High School Saturday morning.
The rain never came, but the thunder did in the form of the Lovejoy bats as the Lady Leopards pounded out 11 hits in a 13-0 thrashing of Nevada Community.
“We tried to pump the girls up and have them come in like they had something to prove,” said Amanda Douglas, Lovejoy head coach. “The girls came out really fired up today and they swung the bats well.”
The combined score of those games was 30-0.
“We felt like we knew what they were going to do,” said Melissa Schreck, Lovejoy junior. “But at the same time, they hung with us until the fifth inning in our last game, so we wanted to get out to a good start and make sure they didn’t get their confidence up.”
The Lady Leopards did just that by hanging a six-spot in the bottom of the first. In a game in which every Lovejoy starter reached base at least once, it’s no surprise the offensive contributions came across the board. Freshman Sammi Curry, senior Jordan Stafford, Schreck, sophomore Brooke Puckett and senior Chelsea Bain each had a hit in the first frame with the latter two being dual 2-RBI doubles.
Lovejoy sent 11 batters to the plate in the first and could have had even more runs had it not been for Community forcing two outs at home plate to end the inning.
As it was, a 6-0 lead would be more than enough for Stafford, who took the circle for Lovejoy.
“I was really excited and a little nervous before the game,” Stafford said. “And then when we scored six runs, it’s kind of like, ‘ok, now I can just go out there, throw the ball and not have to worry so much.’”
Stafford didn’t get to pitch against Community during district due to injury, but made up for lost time as she allowed just two hits while striking out eight in Saturday’s complete game victory.
“Jordan pitched very well today,” Douglas said. “She was changing up speeds, had a lot of movement on her pitches and was hitting her spots. When she does all three of those things, she’s unstoppable and it’s really fun to watch.”
While Stafford was mowing down Lady Braves, the Lady Leopards consistently added runs to the board, no matter which pitcher Community rolled out.
Lovejoy senior Beth Johnson and freshman Brittany Lewis took their respective turns in the hit parade in the second inning with Lewis scoring two runs on a single. With a 9-0 lead in tow, Lovejoy continued to pound the ball in the third as the team got consecutive RBIs from Stafford, Johnson, Schreck and Lewis to make it 13-0. That would also be the final score after Stafford induced three straight ground outs to close the fifth.
A big part of Lovejoy’s hitting prowess on Saturday may have come from practice the night before.
The Lovejoy-Community regional game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but inclement weather pushed it back. The Lady Leopards used the newfound time to go hit at an indoor facility before having an impromptu team dinner at The Olive Garden.
“That was definitely a good team bonding exercise,” Stafford said of the evening’s activities.
Never having been past the second round of the playoffs before this season, Lovejoy now moves on to the fourth round.
“We didn’t want to go out early because we have such an amazing senior class,” Douglas said. “So this feels amazing, but we don’t want this to be the final round we are in.”
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