Rosewood falls to South Creek
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 21, 2011 10:57 PM
Rosewood was left wondering what could have been.
The Eagles will have the entire off-season to think about it.
A pair of costly errors and two missed scoring opportunities came back to haunt Rosewood in a 2-1 loss to visiting South Creek on Friday night in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state playoffs.
The Cougars' Lauren Ward led off the top of the first inning with a single to center field. She attempted to steal second base and later scored as Eagles' catcher Alyssa Spell's throw to second wound up in center field.
Spell led off the home half of the first inning with a single and advanced to third on a South Creek error. Cougars' starting pitcher Lauren Sitterson retired the next three batters she faced to strand Spell at third base.
Scout Anderson's RBI ground out in the bottom of the third inning scored Laura Vinson to tie the game at 1-1.
South Creek's Kaitlyn Sitterson reached on a dropped third strike that would have ended the top of the fourth inning. Taylor Johnson advanced to third base on the play and scored on a Rosewood error to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
"Those errors hurt tremendously," said Eagles' head coach Tracie Meadows. "They were being aggressive and we just didn't make the plays. It forced the errors and that is what scored their two runs."
Kelsey Kornegay reached on a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kornegay attempted to score on Megann Tyndall's single but was thrown out at home by South Creek third baseman Sarah Moseley.
"That's just Kelsey being aggressive and I was sending her," said Meadows. "Kelsey was already halfway and even if she came back she would have been thrown out at third. The best thing to do and the best opportunity for us to score at that point is for her to go. They had to throw it, the catcher had to catch it and put the tag on. It was a chance we had to take."
Lauren Sitterson allowed one earned run on three hits with 13 strikeouts and one walk to earn the win inside the pitcher's circle. She relied heavily on her fastball which Rosewood (10-11) hitters had difficulty catching up with.
"She had the speed and she didn't change speeds," said Meadows. "It didn't break a whole lot it was just up and down. We have not faced a lot of speed other than Princeton and Midway. We prepared for pitches that were low but I guess we did not prepare well enough for more speed."
Amanda Beckert surrendered two unearned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks and endured the loss.