Clarkdale rolls to playoff victory
By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
April 18, 2003
The bats stayed hot and the pitching was strong for Clarkdale on Thursday night, and the Lady Bulldogs continued to steamroll in the playoffs with a 17-0 win over visiting Our Ladies Academy.
Emily Howard struck out nine batters in three innings and JorD'an Orr pounded two home runs to lead Clarkdale to a 1-0 lead in its second round playoff series with the Lady Crescents.
The Lady Bulldogs will try to win the series and advance to South State tournament on Saturday when they travel to the coast to continue the series.
Julie Reboul started the game off with a double for OLA, but Howard was nearly unhittable from that point on as she struck out seven straight batters after the hit.
Orr started the Clarkdale offense on the right foot as she blasted the second pitch she saw over the fence in left-center to give Clarkdale a 1-0 lead.
Brandi Wright followed with a walk and Megan Potate singled. Lindsay Dawkins brought in both runners with a single for a 3-0 advantage, after the first inning.
The Lady Bulldogs broke the game open with an 11-run second inning. Everyone in the lineup scored a run for Clarkdale in the inning.
Savannah Satcher started the rally with a walk, and Bethany Spidle was hit by a pitch and Orr singled to load the bases.
Wright followed with a single to bring in two runs for a 5-0 lead.
Potate followed with a fly to right field, but OLA's outfielder slipped to let the ball drop. OLA caught a runner in between second and third base on the throw back to the infield, but the Lady Crescents' threw the ball into the outfield trying to get the runner at second to allow two runs to score.
Sabrina Woodall was hit by a pitch, and Howard singled in two runs to push Clarkdale's lead to 9-0.
After a walk to Dawkins, Casey Meador laid down a bunt, and OLA threw the ball wild to first to allow a run to score. Satcher followed with a ground out to make the score 11-0.
Spidle brought in another run with a single, and Orr followed with a single. Wright brought in Spidle with a single, and Potate brought in Orr with a single to make the score 14-0 after two innings.
After Howard struck out the first batter of the third, Hannah Allen ripped a double to right to put some pressure on the Lady Bulldogs.
Howard struck out the next batter, but the ball got away from the catcher to allow the runner to reach first. Howard settled in and got another strikeout and a pop out to get out of the inning.
Howard finished with three innings pitched and allowed just two hits, while striking out nine batters for the night.
Clarkdale scored three runs in the third inning led by a two-run homer by Orr to produced the final margin of victory.
The Lady Bulldogs improve to 18-7 on the year with the win.
