SB: No.4 Grapeland shuts down Alto, 4-0
ulated by catcher Ashley Brown and other teammates after her
solo home run in the second inning. (Photo by John Krueger)
CROCKETT -- Fielding a team that featured six returning starters from last year's State Finalist, the No.10-ranked Alto Lady Jacket softball team is no stranger to pressure. But with their backs to the wall in the best 2-out-of-3 series with Grapeland here at Lady Bulldog Field Friday night, Alto couldn't put together the hits when needed as No.4 Grapeland completed the two-game sweep of the series with a 4-0 victory.
The setback ended another outstanding season for the Lady Jackets as they posted an overall mark of 25-4. Grapeland, which won Game 1 of the series on Thursday, 6-2, moves on to the Class 1A Region III Final against Malakoff Cross Roads, a team that Mount Enterprise, 6-0, 3-0, on Friday. Grapeland is now 28-5 on the year.
Alto was able to keep the game close throughout as the Sandiettes held only a 1-0 lead through five innings. The run was scored by a solo home run to lead off the second by Grapeland pitcher Summer Groholski, a senior pitcher who has already committed to the University of Houston.
Groholski kept the Lady Jackets off-balance most of the night, scattering four hits through her seven innings of work. She struck out six and walked just one to record her second win of the series.
"We tried to execute a few more bunts tonight than we did last night and we hoped the hits would come when we needed them and they just didn't," explained Alto Head Coach Sharon Reed after the game. "When you play a pitcher as strong as they have, you have to work your short game, especially with your girls that are not as quick with the bat. And we did; we just had a few missed signals and a few execution problems.
"We're a solid hitting team up and down the lineup, with four or five girls hitting in the .500's; it just didn't happen for us tonight.
"But defensively, I think we played them as hard as we could have played them."
Heaven Liles, who pitched at the state tournament a year ago, held her own. Despite giving up giving up 10 hits, she allowed four runs (2 earned), while striking out seven and walking seven.
It was a bend-but-not-break attitude for the Alto defense as the Sandiettes won the contest despite stranding 14 players on the basepaths in the contest.
Groholski helped her cause offensively. In addition to her solo shot to give her team the early lead, she finished 2-for-2 at the dish, drawing a pair of walks and driving in a run. Left fielder Charity Squyres went 2-for-3 with a RBI from her spot in the No.9 position in the batting order and third baseman Jala Johnson went 2-for-5 with a run batted in and a stolen base.
Four different Lady Jackets were limited to singles in the game. Shortstop Laura Watson, left fielder Haley Parker, third baseman Briana Williamson and right fielder Ragan Rutherford each went 1-for-3.
Watson led the game off with a bunt single for Alto, but she was left standing at second base when the third out was called as her teammates couldn't push her home.
Meanwhile, Grapeland left two runners on base when the third out was called in the first frame and three more in the second. But Groholski's homer gave the Sandiettes a 1-0 lead heading into the third.
Despite leading 10 baserunner stranded in scoring position, the Sandiettes continued to put pressure on the Alto defense. They scored an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Squyres singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jayde Westbrook. She advanced to third on a ground out and scored when a fielder's choice wasn't in time to get her heading home.
A pair of Alto errors aided the Sandiettes in adding two more runs in the seventh as the Lady Jackets' defense kept the game close, but couldn't get over the hump offensively.
Reed said she thought her players might have put too much pressure on themselves after the successful run in 2009.
"This wasn't typical Alto softball," the coach noted. "We just had our hits scattered. If we would have had them when we needed them, it could have been a different ballgame.
"When it came down to the playoffs this season, the seniors wanted to do it, but they had to overcome themselves and it just didn't happen. They worked really hard and wanted to play Grapeland, and could have beaten them.
"But I told my girls that I wouldn't have swapped one of my kids at any position for any of their kids. I'm so proud of them.
"It was still a great season."
(Photo slideshow to come Sunday)
LINESCORE
Grapeland 010 001 2 = 04 10 01
Alto 000 000 0 = 00 04 04
WP: Summer Groholski (GHS) - 7.0 inn., 0 runs, 0 ER, 4 hits, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 HB.
LP: Heaven Liles (AHS) - 7.0 inn, 4 runs, 2 ER, 10 hits, 7 K, 7 BB, 0 HB.
2B: None.
3B: None.
HR: Summer Groholski (GHS.
Records: Grapeland 28-5; Alto 25-4.