Staff writer
LEITCHFIELD -- Near the end of the season last year, the Cougars went into the game at second-ranked Louisville Ballard having moved up the the third spot in the state rankings. They won that game 3-0.
This season, the tables were turned. Ballard came to GCHS with a third-ranked team looking to upset the second-ranked Cougars. The Bruins were coming off an impressive showing at the rain-shortened Sports Warehouse Tournament in Owensboro, where they won twice - 2-0 over 14th-ranked Hopkins County Central and 6-0 over tough Apollo.
The Cougars split two games at the same tournament, giving away a 2-1 game against 10th-ranked Henderson County, then winning over old foe Central Hardin 5-0. The Cougars had been up and down in their last several games and it was going to be interesting to see how they would handle the challenge of Ballard.
As things turned out, the Cougars played rock-solid and got a great performance from All-State pitcher Michelle Critchelow to down the Bruins (19-5) 1-0.
Critchelow gave just three hits and walked no one while striking out 14 Bruin batters to pick up the win. Ballard had just four base runners for the game and only two advanced as far as second base.
Ballard got an excellent performance from its pitcher, Kristina Hortert, who gave up just five hits and struck out 10. However, the Cougars were able to put together a couple of hits and a sacrifice fly to score the deciding run in the fifth inning to hang the loss on Hortert.
Freshman shortstop Jordan Clemons began the fifth by turning around a 1-1 Hortert delivery and sending it up the middle of the diamond for a single. Senior Cindy Langley followed by laying down a perfect bunt that got by third-baseman Michelle Elder for an infield hit.
Freshman Desiree Waterman moved the runners up one base with a ground out to Elder at third, setting up a battle between Hortert and Cougar slugger Beth Glasscock, who had struck out in the first and singled in the third.
Glasscock worked the count full before sending a low line drive into right-center field. Right-fielder Christy Jackson made a nice play on the ball to take away a hit from Glasscock, but Clemons was able to tag up and slide across home with what turned out to be the winning run.
The Bruins put a runner at second with two outs in the first inning, but Critchelow struck out second-baseman Joanna Sells to end the inning. They put a runner at second with two outs in the fifth, but Critchelow struck out center-fielder Kathleen Hammer to end that threat.
In the seventh, Critchelow got Sells on a come-backer leading off the inning before striking out the next to batters to end the game.
SPORTS WAREHOUSE TOURNAMENT
HENDERSON COUNTY
It is something of a given in fast-pitch softball that if you make mistakes and give the other team chances they shouldn't have, you are likely to get beat.
That's just what happened in Friday night's first game when three Cougar errors led directly to two runs as 10th-ranked Henderson County defeated the Grayson County 2-1.
With a runner at second base and two outs in the fifth inning, Critchelow fielded a come-backer for what should have been the final out of the inning. However, her throw was low to Wood at first, and when the ball skipped past Wood into right field, the run scored.
Glasscock tied things up in the top of the sixth by hitting a towering home run to left field, but two more errors in the bottom of the inning doomed the Cougars.
With a runner at first and none out, the Lady Colonels tried to sacrifice the runner to second. As the batter popped out to Glasscock at third, the runner was halfway to second. With an easy chance for the double play, Glasscock threw the ball away at first, allowing the runner to advance to second.
The Cougars immediately got another chance for a double play which would have ended the inning. A low line drive was caught by Alicia Strickland in right field, catching the runner at second again well off the bag. A short throw to second was low to Clemons and the runner got back safely.
With those two chances to get out of the inning gone, the next batter sent a little dunker to left which scored the runner and gave the Lady Colonels the win.
CENTRAL HARDIN
This game started late due to an extra-inning game beforehand, then had several delays during the game so that no other games were going on when this one was halted by lightning in the top of the sixth inning.
The Cougars scored four times in the fourth to take charge, then added another in the fifth. They had scored a run with only one out in the sixth when the game was stopped.
Critchelow gave up just one hit and struck out six in her five innings of work.
The Cougars missed out on a run in the first inning after Langley led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. With two outs Critchelow's grounder to third was thrown into right field for an error. Langley rounded third to head home and got tangled up with third baseman Kylie Brady. Langley was then thrown out at the plate and Head Coach John Skaggs was quick to protest that Langley had been interfered with and should have been awarded home plate. The umpire at home said he didn't see the interference and would not change his call.
The Cougars put two runners on in the second and loaded the bases in the third but could not get anyone home against Lady Bruin starter Anna Morgan. That changed in the fourth as the Cougars put the game away.
Satterfield singled leading off and was replaced on the bases by Alyssa Blessitt, who went to second when Clemons walked. Both runners advanced on a Morgan wild pitch, then Blessitt scored when Langley beat out a bunt for a hit, with Clemons moving to third.
Waterman walked to load the bases before Morgan uncorked two more wild pitches to give up two more runs. Glasscock followed with a shot back through the box that caromed off Morgan's leg and into left field for a hit that drove in the fourth run of the inning.
Langley drove in the fifth run in the top of the fifth with an infield single. A Glasscock single, a ground out and a Strickland single plated another run in the sixth, but the game was called before the inning was complete, thus negating the run.
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