eliminated from playoffs

Warren Central’s Anna Miller, right, rolls into third base as a throw skips past Ocean Springs’ Amy Husley in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

Ocean Springs takes advantage of WC mistakes

[4/11/04]In a pair of close games, fielding proved to be the difference as Ocean Springs eliminated Warren Central from the state playoffs on Saturday. Ocean Springs will face the winner between Long Beach and Oak Grove in the second round.

Behind solid pitching, the Lady Greyhounds took the first game 3-1 and followed with a 3-2 win in game two of the series.

“We just got the runs when we needed them,” Ocean Springs coach Jack Hughes said. “It could have gone either way. They’ve got a fine ballclub.”

Lauren Anderson pitched both games for Warren Central (11-11-1). In 13 innings, she scattered 11 hits, struck out 21 and gave up no walks.

“Lauren pitched them well,” Young said. “Just some minor mistakes that we made, as has been the problem all season, made a difference in the game. We made a couple of errors the type of errors that they didn’t make.”

In the first game, Anna Miller singled and scored on an error to put the Lady Vikes up 1-0 after three innings.

Helped by three WC errors, Ocean Springs responded with three runs in the top of the fourth. Cassie Slaton singled and scored on an error, and Brandi Roundtree drove in two runs with a single to give the Lady Greyhounds a 3-1 lead.

“I felt like it took us a couple of innings in that first game to really take a good look at (Anderson),” Hughes said. “Then we finally started putting the bat on the ball. But the thing about it was we had to bunt several times to get people in scoring position because we were not hitting it.”

Freshman Codey Champagne closed the door the rest of the way, allowing six hits in seven innings and striking out three with no walks.

“She threw a real good game,” Hughes said. “She didn’t strike out that many, but a lot of the pitches she threw she made them hit ground balls, and the defense came through.”

Ocean Springs took no time to pounce on Warren Central in the second game.

Amy Husley singled to start the game, and Sierra Battle reached on an error. Ashton Nelson followed with a double to left-center that brought in both runners.

Nelson also singled in the third inning and scored on an error to give Ocean Springs a 3-0 lead.

“We committed some errors that really hurt our efforts there,” WC coach Lucy Young said. “We were hitting the ball, but we just weren’t getting the good power on it and we were hitting directly to people.”

The Lady Greyhounds held the lead for much of the game as Husley had a no-hitter through five innings. But in the sixth, the Lady Vikes fought back.

Candace McKay led off with a single and advanced to third on an error. Cookie Johnson grounded to shortstop but reached on an error and brought in McKay.

Anderson then hit a two-out double into the left-center gap that brought in Johnson and cut the lead to 3-2.

“I was really pleased in the second game, where we battled back and picked up a couple of runs there,” Young said. “Had we gotten a couple of key hits right there at the end, I was hoping we’d get into a tie game.”

Husley was able to coax a groundout to get out of the inning, and she struck out two of the three batters she faced in the seventh to ensure the win.