Broad Run Softball Rallies Past County

No. 8 Spartans Score Three in the Sixth to Win

By Jeff Nelson

Saturday, May 2, 2009

For five innings last night, the Broad Run Spartans put runners on base. And for five innings, they left them there.

By the bottom of the sixth, they trailed Loudoun County by a run.

"It gets frustrating, and in the moment, a little nerve-racking," Broad Run junior Anna Blessing said. "But we were hitting the ball right to people."

That finally changed when Blessing drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning with a booming double, which propelled the eighth-ranked Spartans to a 3-1 home win.

"Coach was saying: 'Hit it on the ground. Get it in a hole,'" recalled Blessing, who came up with runners on second and third and nobody out. "I did not hit it on the ground, but it worked out."

The Spartans (13-2, 11-0 Virginia AA Dulles District) stranded six runners in the first five innings, in part because Loudoun County (8-7, 5-6 Dulles District) made several nice defensive plays.

In the first inning, Raiders shortstop Holly Norris dove to her right to snare a liner that would have been a leadoff hit. In the second, a relay from left fielder Megan Lindsey to third-baseman Taylor Grimmell to catcher Kelley Duerbeck nailed Blessing at home. Later in the same inning, center fielder Rochelle Latka made a diving catch to save a run.

In the top of the third, the Raiders took the lead when Rachel Wigfield reached on an error, moved to second on a fielder's choice, stole third, and scored on Erin Ertel's suicide squeeze.

They protected that lead in the bottom of the frame, when Latka's strong throw prevented a Spartans' runner from tagging up.

Broad Run got hits in each of the next two innings, but still couldn't score. All along, though, Spartans Coach Ed Steele figured his team would break through.

"When you hit the ball that hard, you just know, sooner or later . . . and we only needed one," he said. "I knew with the meat of our order coming up there [in the sixth], I figured this was our best shot."

Spartans first baseman Jen Soroka, who bats cleanup, led off the sixth with a double, and moved to third on Kate Sims' bloop hit to center. Blessing then drove the first pitch she saw over the right fielder's head, and Reagan Doiron delivered an insurance run with her second hit of the night to complete the scoring.

Tagged: Broad Run High School, high school sports, Loudoun County High School, softball

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?