Lady Ponies pull off district sweep

Posted on Sep 28, 2009 by Micah Choquette in Athletics

Originally Published in the Sapulpa Daily Herald

KELLYVILLE — What a day for Jacy Wilson.

The Kellyville third baseman was honored as the Lady Ponies’ lone senior while her teammates celebrated another district championship.

Wednesday afternoon was the best of both worlds for Wilson because she was able to enjoy “senior-night” festivities after KHS claimed its fourth straight district title with a 1-0 victory over Sperry in Game 2 of the Class 3A tournament.

“Well at first, we didn’t think we were going to have our senior night,” said Wilson referring to Kellyville getting rained out Tuesday, which was supposed to be the first day of the district tournament. “…But we did come out and get first in districts, and I was very proud of my team.”

The Lady Ponies, ranked 10th in Class 3A, converted a first-inning run into the winning run as KHS shut out Sperry (8-23) for the second time in two games on Wednesday. Kellyville (18-10) won the initial game of the district tournament, 8-0, by pounding out 13 hits.

KHS, however, wasn’t able to generate near as much offense in the second game. The Lady Ponies collected a mere four hits after opening the afternoon by putting on a hitting clinic.

Kellyville coach Danny Wood was worried his team might get a little complacent after a big triumph in the opening contest.

He said: “You win a big game 8-0, and I warned them about relaxing and thinking it was going to be just as easy.”

Luckily for Kellyville, Lauren Inman carried her hot bat into the second game. After going 2 for 4 with a double in the first game, the sophomore center fielder tripled to right-center field to open the contest. Then, Taylor Todd followed by driving Inman in with a RBI ground out to second.

It would end up being the Lady Ponies’ only run of the game.

“Thank goodness for the leadoff triple and scoring the run early,” Wood said.

The first-inning run also allowed Paige Richardson to relax and pitch her second shutout of the afternoon.

After tossing a complete-game two-hitter in the opener, the sophomore pitcher went another seven innings without allowing the Lady Pirates to score.

“She’s a fighter and competitor,” Wood said of his young hurler. “She’s a great defensive pitcher.

“I mean, when the ball is put in play, she turns into the eighth fielder out in the field.”

Wood brought that up following Richardson’s defensive effort against Sperry, in which she was involved on six of the Lady Pirates’ 21 outs in the second game.

One of the outs — one the Richardson recorded herself — came in an instant.

Needing only three outs to seal the victory, Richardson (16-7) snagged a screaming line drive off the bat of Sperry’s Kenzie K. Darris to record the opening out of the seventh. Usually a ball hit with that magnitude would affect a pitcher and cause them to unravel. But not Richardson.

“After playing competitive ball for so long you have to get used to it,” she said.

With both victories in the district tournament, Richardson’s all-time record in district games is 4-0. She picked up two wins in 2008 when Kellyville knocked off Cascia Hall.

“It feels really good,” said Richardson, who issued two walks while striking a batter in the second game against Sperry.

Kellyville will now await its regional fate. Class 3A regional pairings should be released Friday or early next week.

Game breakdown

Key player: Richardson. The sophomore flamethrower dominated Sperry’s lineup and limited SHS to six hits on the day. She held Sperry to four hits in the district-clinching game.

Key moment: Inman’s triple. After bruising Sperry’s confidence in the opening game, which KHS won 8-0, Inman shattered the Lady Pirates’ morale in the second game by lacing a triple to right-center to open the game.

Key number: Four. In four district games on the mound, Richardson is 4-0.

Notes: Inman’s triple was the only extra-base hit in the game. … Following the game, Wood talked about how winning districts at Kellyville has become a year-in and year-out occurrence. He said, “This is what we talked about becoming tradition.”

How They Scored

Sperry at Kellyville (Game 2)

•� Kellyville first: Lauren Inman led off and tripled to right-center field. Taylor Todd grounded into a fielder’s choice at second, Inman scored. Kellyville 1, Sperry 0.

Game box score

KELLYVILLE 1, SPERRY 0 (Game 2)

KELLYVILLE AB R H RBI

Lauren Inman, cf 3 1 1 0

Taylor Todd, ss 3 0 0 1

Jacy Wilson, 3b 3 0 0 0

Paige Richardson, p 3 0 1 0

Cody Cox, 1b 3 0 0 0

Shelby Tiller, 2b 3 0 0 0

Kelsey Underwood, rf 3 0 1 0

- Melinda Ennis, pr 0 0 0 0

Haley Rangel, dp 1 0 0 0

- Jenny Duncan, ph 1 0 0 0

Tara Gleason, c 2 0 1 0

Baylee Bolton, flex/lf 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 1 4 1

LOB: 3. E: 1 (Gleason).

3B: 1 (Inman).

SB: 3 (Inman, Richardson, Gleason). CS: 1 (Gleason).

Pitching IP H R (ER) BB SO

Richardson (W, 16-7) 7 4 0 (0) 2 1

SPERRY AB R H RBI

Samantha Mizell, cf 3 0 0 0

Hayley Goolsby, ss 3 0 0 0

Chelsea Rickman, c 3 0 2 0

- Samantha Harvey, cr 0 0 0 0

Jessy Wolf, 3b 3 0 0 0

Hayley Neece, 1b 3 0 0 0

Edith E. Darris, rf 3 0 1 0

Kenzie K. Darris, lf 3 0 1 0

Courtney Ball, p 2 0 0 0

- Chelsea Marris, cr 0 0 0 0

Sarah Eddings, dp 1 0 0 0

Jamie Cates, 2b 0 0 0 0

Totals 24 0 4 0

LOB: 5. E: 1 (Ball).

SAC: 1 (Eddings).

SB: 1 (Neece).

Pitching IP H R (ER) BB SO

Ball (L, 8-14) 6 4 1 (1) 3 0

Line Score

Kellyville (18-10) 100 000 0 — 1

Sperry (8-23) 000 000 0 — 0

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