Reidland blocks advance

Lady Marshals
fall in defensive
battle

By Ann Beckett
Tribune-Courier Sports
sports@tribunecourier.com

MCCRACKEN COUNTY – It’s not over until the last player bats, especially when you’re the 2009 defending First Region champions playing the Lady Greyhounds. Stephanie Helton was on the mound for the Lady Marshals and they faced Michigan State bound Reidland pitcher Cassie Layne.

The Lady Marshals first score of the game came in the top of the second inning when Allie Moore’s nearly in the park home run scored Landon Lovett while Moore was tagged out sliding into home.

The pitching duel between Helton and Layne continued through the fifth inning when the Marshals were able to score once again when Taylor Meadows two out single scored Moore to put the Lady Marshals in the lead 2-0.

Helton gave up one hit in the sixth inning to take the Lady Marshals to the top of the inning still leading by two.

Not able to add more runs to their total, the Lady Marshals stranded two on base heading into the final inning.

Reidland came up with five runs on five hits in their last at bat. With the score tied at two, the final blow came when Reidland’s Miranda Mullen’s triple put them up 3-2. Reidland went on to score two more, beating the Lady Marshals by the final score of 5-2. The Lady Marshals committed two errors in the seventh inning which played into Reidland’s five run inning.

“In softball, the team that doesn’t make the plays usually ends up losing and that’s what happened to us in the seventh inning,” said Lady Marshal’s head coach Patricia Greer. “We did not make the plays we had to make and unfortunately we did not win”.

Greer said, “Our kids competed on every pitch and that is what I asked for. The young ladies have nothing to hang their heads about and should be proud of the game and their season.”

The Lady Marshals season ends with a record of 26 wins 13 losses. “We had a good season playing a very competitive schedule,” said Greer. “We beat several top 20 teams and won the Slugfest and Christian County tournaments.”

Buzz Ray and Allie Moore led the team in almost every stats category this season with Carly Sykes and Stephanie Helton leading the way defensively and Anna Maziarka leading in assists. Stephanie Helton finished the season with a 21-9 record on the mound for the Lady Marshals.