Philly bounces Clarkdale

By By Steve Swogetinsky / special to The Star
Oct. 17, 2004
And no one on the Philadelphia High School slow-pitch softball team was complaining.
The Lady Tornadoes achieved one of their season goals Saturday night as they defeated Clarkdale in the third round of the MHSAA Class 2A Slow-Pitch Softball Playoffs. Philadelphia, now 20-8 on the season, dropped a 15-10 decision to the host Lady Bulldogs in the opener, then came back to win the next two games, 10-8 and 15-12.
Philly advances to the South State Class 2A championship series against St. Andrews Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Burnside Park in Philadelphia
Philadelphia jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first game paced by Shenese Hunter's grand slam. The Lady Tornadoes added four runs in the third and led 10-3 going into the bottom of the fifth.
That's where Clarkdale took over. The Lady Bulldogs sent 16 batters to the plate. Before they were done, they had cranked out 12 runs on 12 hits.
Ashley Bye started it off with a solo homer, and her teammates followed her with single after single.
Chassidy Roberts came up with the biggest play of the game. With bases loaded, Roberts singled in a run. She turned and headed for second but was caught in a run down. With the Philadelphia defense concentrating on Roberts, the other two runs scored. Then Roberts legged it out to second and was safe. The score stood at 10-8 in favor of Philadelphia.
Kimbo Seale later knocked in the tying run, making the score 10-10. Then Whitney Drachenberg hit the go-ahead run. Clarkdale would add three more runs and held on for the victory.
The Lady Bulldogs had an 18-16 hitting edge in the game. Drachenberg went four-for-four, while Alyssa Bye had three hits, including a double and a triple.
Candace Griffin and Jillian Sparnecht each had three hits to lead Philadelphia.
In the second game Clarkdale jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Lady Tornadoes answered with three in the bottom half of the inning.
Griffin scored off of Hunter's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 4-4. But Ashley Bye belted her second home run of the evening to give Clarkdale a 5-4 edge in the top of the third.
The Lady Tornadoes made their move in the bottom of the third and fourth innings as they scored five runs and went up 9-5. A Clarkdale error which resulted in the ball being thrown into the Lady Bulldogs' dugout caused two runs to be scored and Philadelphia took a 9-5 lead.
Alyssa Bye belted a three-run homer in the fifth to make it 9-8. But Griffin scored again off of Hunter's single and the Lady Tornadoes held on for the victory.
Philadelphia outhit Clarkdale 16-12. Shelby Smith went four-for-four while Alli Parsons and Erin Breland each added three singles. Ashley Bye went three-for-three to lead Clarkdale.
It appeared to be business as usual for the Lady Bulldogs in the third game as they jumped out to an 8-1 lead after two innings. But the Lady Tornadoes proved that it's how you finish that counts.
After a scoreless third inning, Philadelphia picked up three runs to make the score 8-5 with two outs in the top of the fourth. The Lady Tornadoes loaded the bases and then Hunter blasted her second grand slam of the evening to tie the game at 8-8.
Clarkdale collected a couple of runs in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead. Seale scored on Drachenberg's sacrifice fly to tie the game. Then Roberts singled in Savanah Satcher, making the score 10-8.
Then Philadelphia put it away as the Lady Tornadoes scored three in the sixth and four in the seventh. Brittany Hodges singled in Tiara Logan to tie the game at 10-10 and Sparnecht knocked in the winning run.
Philadelphia had 16-15 edge at the plate. Hodges, Logan and Griffin all had three hits. Alyssa Bye, Ashley Bye and Sabrina Woodall all had three hits for the Lady Bulldogs.
This marks just the second time in 12 years that Clarkdale has not made it to the finals of the playoffs; the other time coming in the 1998 season.