Clarkdale rallies late for victory

By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
Sept. 19, 2003
ENTERPRISE The Clarkdale Lady Bulldogs used late runs and timely defense to take a hard-fought district game on the road against Enterprise by a final score of 16-10. Clarkdale collected 18 hits in the game, with eight of those hits came in the final two innings.
Clarkdale head coach Rick Roberson was happy with the way his team responded by coming back and taking the win over Enterprise.
Clarkdale opened the game with a pair of runs to move out in front of Enterprise 2-0. Savannah Satcher reached on a fielder's choice and later crossed the plate on an RBI triple by Alyssa Bye to put the first run on the board for the visiting Lady Bulldogs.
Sabrina Woodall contributed the next big hit in the inning with an RBI single to center field and make the score 2-0.
Enterprise fought back with a run in the bottom of the first to tighten the game at 2-1. Kacey Jimmerson led the inning off with a double and would come around to score on a triple by Shannon Creel.
Clarkdale pulled away form Enterprise for five big runs in the second and took control of the game at 7-1. Lindsay Dawkins started the offense off with a double and came around to score on a triple by Brandi Wright to lead off the inning for Clarkdale. Wright scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Whitney Drachenberg to extend the lead to 4-1. Bethany Spidle and Megan Potate provided the other big hits in the inning to move the score to 7-1.
Enterprise clawed back into the game in the bottom of the second with nine runs to take a 10-7 lead.
In the nine-run inning for Enterprise, Heather Todd had two doubles, and Laura Speed had a double and two RBIs.
After a silent third inning from both squads, Clarkdale stormed back with a run in the fourth inning to cut the Enterprise lead to 10-8. The run scored on an RBI single by Spidle to bring the crowd alive from Clarkdale.
The big blow of the game came in the top of the fifth for the visiting Lady Bulldogs. Alyssa Bye sent a long fly ball over the wall in center for a home run to draw Clarkdale to within one run at 10-9.
Clarkdale finally took control of the game for good with an offensive outburst of five runs. Spidle came up big for Clarkdale once again with a two-run single to give the visitors their first lead since the second inning at 11-10. Potate knocked in a run on a single, followed by an RBI double to highlight the rest of the inning for CHS.
With the 16-10 win, Clarkdale moves to 13-4 overall and 5-0 in district action. "It is very important to get that edge in district play," Rick Roberson said. "We hope that this success continues."
Enterprise falls to 5-9 overall on the season and 3-2 in district play. Clarkdale returns to action on Saturday against West Lauderdale, while Enterprise plays next Tuesday against Lake.