Northeast's season comes to an end against Amory
By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
October 13, 2004
Youth and inexperience caught up with Northeast Lauderdale.
The Lady Trojans were swept out of the slow-pitch softball state playoffs on Tuesday, losing 9-1 and 14-5 to Amory at Northeast Park. Northeast Lauderdale finished the season 16-17.
Shelley Odom was 5-of-8 over the two-game series, and Kara Hull was 5-of-7.
In the 9-1 loss in Game 1, Amory scored a run in the top of the first for a quick lead, but the Lady Trojans answered in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own. Jenny Simpson, who was 2-of-4 in the game, hit a two-out single to drive in Odom for a 1-1 tie.
Northeast Lauderdale failed to score again, though, despite eight runs over the rest of the game.
The Lady Trojans also missed out on a bases-loaded opportunity in the third inning. Odom led off the inning with a single, and after two outs, Simpson and Hull followed with singles of their own before Northeast Lauderdale hit into its third out.
It was missed opportunities like the third inning that doomed the Lady Trojans, Harper said.
The Lady Panthers made Northeast Lauderdale pay for the lost chance, scoring two runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Mallory Pace and Logan Olczak were each 2-of-4 in Game 1.
The Lady Trojans had five batters with two hits in Game 2, but again suffered a loss to Amory.
Northeast Lauderdale scored first in the second inning when Savannah Hall scored on a grounder by Pace, giving the Lady Trojans a 1-0 lead.
Amory tied the game in the bottom of the second, then took a lead in the third inning that the Lady Panthers never relinquished with a four-run outburst.
Northeast Lauderdale chipped away at Amory's advantage in the fourth inning, when Hall scored on a grounder by Leanne Young, who later scored on a single by Olczak. Young's run brought the Lady Trojans to within 5-3.
But the Lady Panthers poured on four more runs in the fourth inning and five more in the sixth. Northeast Lauderdale's only answer was its two runs in the top of the sixth, when Pace hit an RBI double before scoring on an Olczak single.
Odom, Hall, Kara Hull, Pace and Olczak each had two hits in the Game 2 loss.
