East headed back to district finals with win over Kings
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
FAIRFIELD — Alexa Thompson saw the pitch heading outside — exactly in her wheelhouse.
Seconds later, Lakota East High's softball team punched its ticket to the Division I district final.
Extras
The junior third baseman drilled a two-out 1-0 pitch into the left-centerfield gap, chasing home Kristen Shearer all the way from first base to deliver the No. 5 Thunderhawks a 2-1 victory in eight innings over No. 12 Kings in a Cincinnati 1 sectional final Tuesday, May 20, at Fairfield Middle School.
"I knew I had a couple rough at-bats in the beginning," said Thompson, who was 0-for-3 prior to her game-winning hit. "I knew (Lauren Collier) was going to give me something because I knew she wanted me to swing and they wanted to get that last out. I saw it come in, I saw that it was an outside pitch and I like those outside pitches. It felt real good coming off that bat."
And East is feeling giddy about heading back to the district finals, where it captured district titles in '05 and '06 before falling short a year ago.
The Thunderhawks (20-7) advance to face Glen Este (21-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 24, at Fairfield.
"It feels great," East coach Steve Castner said. "We expect to be playing our best ball at this time, and I think we are. The team that beats us has got to be playing their best ball."
Kings (12-13) scored in the sixth on Theresa Manne's two-out run-scoring hit to grab a 1-0 lead, but Collier walked Allison Mills to lead off the bottom half. Shearer then laced an opposite-field double to left to plate courtesy runner Lauren Barker and knot it at 1-apiece.
After Collier retired the first two batters in the eighth with ease, Shearer came through with a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch. Two pitches later, Thompson delivered the walk-off victory.
"It was nice to see two solid hits in a row," Castner said. "(Thompson) was right there. That was a rip. And I was sending her no matter what."
East right-hander Hillary Ballinger (14-6) struck out seven and gave up six hits, while her counterpart, Collier (12-13), punched out eight, walked four and allowed seven hits.
"I felt pretty good about playing East," Kings coach Mary Ellen Bonner said. "I felt that it was anybody's game. This team fought hard.
"I thought LC pitched a good game," she added. "We made no errors, but we didn't hit as well as I thought we could. We were bunting and trying to move runners. They've got a great catcher (Emily Lafferty), and Ballinger's a good pitcher."
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5113 or smatthews@coxohio.com.
