Friday, May 30, 2008
Spartans stop Cougars
Ellen Weaver throws a two-hitter to help Salem reach the championship game against Tunstall.
Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times
Salem's Catlin Carr (left), tags out Patrick County High School's Kaitlyn Culler during Thursday's Region IV semifinal game.
Ellen Weaver throws against Patrick County on Thursday. Weaver pitched a two-hit shutout.
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Moyer Sports Complex press box tunesmith Jim Paxton led off his eclectic pregame selection Thursday with Supertramp's "The Long Way Home."
Patrick County's softball team never got there.
Salem lefty Ellen Weaver threw up a big roadblock, pitching a two-hitter with 16 strikeouts as the Spartans qualified for the VHSL Group AA tournament for the first time since 1993 with a 4-0 victory over the Cougars in the Region IV semifinals.
Salem (19-5) will play for the championship at 5 p.m. today against Tunstall, a 3-1 winner over Richlands in the other semifinal thanks to a no-hitter by ace Brittany Arnn.
A three-run fourth inning was all the cushion Weaver (12-3) needed against Patrick County. She fanned six different Cougars at least twice, including leadoff hitter Chelsea Bradshaw and No. 2 batter Ingrid Joyce three times apiece.
"That might be the best game she's pitched," first-year Salem coach Ron Reynolds said. "She was on today, I'm telling you. She was focused. She was much calmer in warmup. I felt like she was going to have a good game.
"The last couple of games in the first inning she's been all over the screen back there. We'd get out of it unscathed but it about gives you a heart attack over here. Today, it was like she was on from the very beginning."
Patrick County's Kaitlin Culler matched Weaver until Jamie Price led off the fourth inning for Salem with a single. Culler walked cleanup hitter Kelsey Bradshaw, then shortstop Caitlin Carr lined an RBI single up the middle for the game's first run.
The Spartans added two more runs on a passed ball and a throwing error on Cougars second baseman Chelsea Bradshaw.
The 3-0 lead was more than enough for Weaver, who allowed infield hits to Holly Willard in the third and Meghan Fain in the seventh.
"She threw well. We helped her out some," Patrick County coach Gerald Culler said. "We usually play a little better than that."
Kelsey Bradshaw went 2-for-2 with an RBI-single in the fifth that scored Weaver, who also had two hits from the leadoff spot. Bradshaw's hit came after she drew blood from her right knee sliding into home in the previous inning.
"I slid too late," she said. "My knee was already cut up and it re-opened."
While many prep softball teams wear shorts, Salem opts for long pants. They still don't prevent strawberries.
"No, but they look sharp," Bradshaw said. "That's why we wear them. I like pants. We look good."
Patrick County (20-5), a regional semifinalist last year, left Moyer without showing its 'A' ga me.
"We sort of fell apart," Fain said. "Some of us had a little bit of jitters. Once they started making plays, that's when we started getting jitters."
Arnn struck out 13 for Tunstall (20-3). Heather Francisco tripled and scored the first run for the Trojans, while Megan Dillon and Jenna Rudder added RBI-singles.
Today's winner will earn a home game Tuesday in the Group AA quarterfinals.
"We started out this year with the goal of winning the district," Reynolds said. "We're kind of like the Eveready Battery. We just keep going and going."
