West Lauderdale sweeps aside Southeast Lauderdale
By By Austin Bishop
EMG regional sports director
The West Lauderdale Lady Knights found two different ways to win on Saturday as they swept Southeast Lauderdale 14-3 and 3-0 to advance to the MHSAA Class 3A South State Championship Series.
West Lauderdale, now 28-4 on the season, exploded for eight runs on nine hits in the bottom of the fourth in the opener on the way to the run-rule victory. The second game saw the Lady Knights hold Southeast Lauderdale scoreless with outstanding defense.
Both coaches said winning the first game was a big plus for West Lauderdale.
The Lady Knights will visit arch-rival Newton County on Tuesday in a two-out-of-three series to see which team advances to next Saturday's championship series in Jackson. The two teams have split two games this year, with each squad taking a one-run win.
Saturday's opening game began like it was going to be a slugfest. The Lady Knights, who are trying to defend their MHSAA Class 3A State title, used RBI singles from Josey Matthews and Katie McAlister to go up 2-0 in the bottom of the first.
But the 23-14 Southeast Lauderdale Lady Tigers, who finished second in Division 5-3A this season, tied the game in the top of the second thanks to an RBI triple by Martika Ivy and a WL throwing error that allowed Ivy to circle the bases.
A two-run double by McAlister highlighted a four-run third for West Lauderdale, while the Lady Tigers cut it to 6-3 in the top of the fourth thanks to singles by Jessica Rose and Mallarie Bowen and an outfield error by WL.
A controversial start to the bottom of the fourth ended with the Lady Knights banging out nine hits to put the game away.
West Lauderdale's Ashley Helms beat out a grounder to short to open the inning. She was originally called out by the base umpire, but when the West Lauderdale coaching staff protested, the home plate umpire was conferred with who ruled that the throw had pulled the first baseman off the base.
After a ground out, Kayla Eubanks hit a two-run inside-the-park homer over the right fielder's head. The next three batters singled and Sydney Cagle cleared the bases with a triple to left-center to put the winners up 10-3.
West Lauderdale added four more runs in the inning thanks to RBI singles by Hayley Campbell, Sommer Jones, Helms and Holly Herrington.
McAlister led WL at the plate in the first game with two singles and a double, while Matthews had three singles and Eubanks, Morgan Gullette and Campbell had two hits each.
Lucy Ruffin and Lindsey Graham had two hits each for SEL.
While West Lauderdale did manage to pick up 13 hits in the second game, the Lady Tigers held the Lady Knights to just three runs.
WL went up 2-0 in the second thanks to singles from Cagle, Gullette and Jones. That became 3-0 in the fifth when Eubanks led off with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kristi Lantz.
Southeast Lauderdale, which had just four hits in the second game, had its best scoring chance in the bottom of the fifth.
Heather Ward led of with a nice double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. Jessica Rose followed with a single, but the inning ended when the Lady Knights turned a 6-4-3 double play.
SEL had 10 groundball outs in the game, with WL shortstop Holly Herrington picking up eight assists.
Cagle had three hits to lead West in the second game, while Gullette, Jones and Herrington had two hits each.
