Lady ‘Cats deck CFCA in opening round of state softball play [Cordele Dispatch, Ga.]

Oct. 09--CORDELE -- Mother Nature with her deluge of rain that left the playing field under water couldn't do it.

Father Time with his four-hour delay from the scheduled starting time so that sump pumps and other measures could be used to make the diamond playable couldn't do it.

And, most important of all, Central Fellowship Christian Academy with its better-than-average No. 4 seeded Lady Lancers couldn't do it.

What was it they couldn't do, you ask?

Keep Crisp Academy's Region 3-AA Lady Wildcats from advancing to the Elite Eight round of the GISA state softball tournament, that's what. They did do with a sweep of the Macon-based team by 7-2 and 9-3 scores.

With its pair of wins, coach Jodie Hays' team bettered its record to 18-3 and earned the right to host Region 1-AA runner-up Briarwood in another doubleheader slated to get under way here today at 11:30 a.m.

"I was really proud of the way the girls handled the long wait from the time we were supposed to start play until we did actually start," Hays said. "They're due a lot of credit first for the patience they showed and then for their performances in both contests."

Crisp 7, CFCA 2

In winning the opener, Crisp erased the 1-0 lead CFCA took in the top of the first on a two-out walk and double by scoring twice in its initial at-bat. Errors sandwiched around a walk that Calli Lumpkin drew allowed Mandie Foster and Parker Krause to reach base safely and loaded the sacks. Savannah Brown plated Foster with a single and a wild pitch got Lumpkin home.

The Lady Lancers threatened to have a really big inning in the second when two walks, a double and a single resulted in a 2-2 tie with the bags still full. Brown pitched out of that jam, though, and blanked the visitors the rest of the way.

Crisp went out front to stay with a third inning run produced when Olivia Folds, a courtesy runner for Brown who had walked and advanced to second on a grounder, came home on Carson Pack's single.

The Lady Wildcats got four insurance runs in the fifth. Mallory Shiver, a runner for Pack who had drawn a walk, advanced to third on Josie Wessel's single and scored on Amanda Smith's grounder.

Foster slapped an RBI single that plated Wessel. Walks issued to Lumpkin and Sidney Folsom and also to Brown an out later accounted for the two final tallies of the frame.

Foster finished with three hits to lead the way for Crisp offensively. Brown turned in a route-going five-hitter during which she fanned and walked four batters.

Crisp 9, CFCA 3

Cast in the role of visitors for the nightcap, Crisp got a quick run via two-out singles by Brown, Pack and Parker Krause only to see the Lady Lancers immediately pull even on the strength of four straight singles.

The Lady Wildcats then all but put the game on ice early with a six-run second during which it got triples from Foster and Maddie Krause and singles from Wessel and Pack. Three errors and a fielder's choice also figured in the outburst.

Crisp accounted for the its last two scores in the fifth via a hit batsman, an Emily Faircloth single, an error that allowed Foster to reach and a passed ball.

The visitors then used four singles, a pair of fielder's choice and a hit batsman to push across the game's final two tallies in their half of the fifth.

"We hit the ball well and continued to live, too, with our defense that's the strongest we've had at this school in a while," Hays said. "Carson also turned in a strong pitching performance on a day it was tough to pitch and make throws after fielding a wet ball."

Foster and Maddie Krause led the way offensively with a triple and single. Pack and Parker Krause had two singles. Pack, who issued one walk, and recorded no strikeouts, effectively scattered the 12 hits CFCA managed.

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