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Cruel ending for Centreville
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Centreville junior Brianne Pease, right, collides with Stone Bridge’s Natalie Driskill during the Northern Region tournament semifinals. Pease, who started on the mound for the Wildcats, allowed just two hits in four innings.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - There is no way to pinpoint exactly what happened to Centreville’s softball team in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Northern Region tournament semifinal against Stone Bridge.
The normally solid infield defense was shaky. A couple of questionable umpiring calls went against them. But in the end maybe it was just softball karma that left the Wildcats in tears after a heartbreaking 3-2 loss put a cruel end to their season.
Stone Bridge, the defending region champion, threw out three Centreville runners at the plate early in the game. Those runs then weren’t on the scoreboard when the Bulldogs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to win it.
“Calls go against you all the time in a game and errors happen. We just didn’t handle it that well when it did,” said Centreville senior outfielder Erin McKee. “We got a little over-anxious and I guess that showed in the end.”
The fourth-ranked Wildcats finished their season at 19-5. Stone Bridge advanced to the region championship for the second year in a row, where it faces the winner of Wednesday night’s second semifinal at Falls Church between No. 9 Robinson (19-6) and No. 8 Westfield (19-5).
Centreville figured it would be there to meet one of its Concorde District rivals. The Wildcats had finished first in the district during the regular season and won the district tournament championship as well.
They led 1-0 from the start on a first-inning RBI single by sophomore Jessie Ferrick. Centreville also received a strong performance on the mound for four innings from junior Brianne Pease, who allowed just two hits and retired the final eight batters she faced.
Centreville played with fire, however, when a runner in the first and two runners in the fourth inning were gunned down at the plate.
“When we sit down later and think about what happened we had runners on in every inning and couldn’t find a way to score them,” said Centreville coach Rich Ferrick. “And the mistakes we made on the bases I’m more than happy as coach to take the credit for.”
As has been the habit all year, Ferrick replaced Pease on the mound in the fifth inning. She struck out three batters and held off a Stone Bridge rally in the sixth with the bases loaded and two out.
But a pair of errors — awarded only after contested calls at first and second — proved Centreville’s undoing in the seventh. With the bases loaded again, Stone Bridge senior Lauren Williams drove in two runs with a line drive to left field. Junior Natalie Driskill followed with the game-winning hit to the wall in left.
“They had the experience as region champs and I’m sure it helped them think they could still win it,” McKee said. “If we played our game it would have been a different story. But at the same time this is a team game, and ultimately, this was a team loss.”
Comments from Examiner Readers
12:56 PM MST on Fri., May. 25, 2007 re: "Let the tournament begin"
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9:57 PM MST on Thu., May. 3, 2007
re: "Einstein a welcome edition"
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10:38 AM MST on Thu., Apr. 26, 2007
re: "Sherwood passes its test"
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Examiner Reader said:
As a Wakefield parent, I find your article "Let the tournament begin" appauling. Why not describe the other schools as being smacked around. I'm sure they had some blow outs.
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Examiner Reader said:
Do you cover DC softball teams? DC College softball? Note the Post today has an article on three top teams: Maret, National Cathedral and Georgetown Visitation... Two loses between three excellent teams beating suburban teams featuring players from local travel softball teams with college prospects... Why go so far from DC for our high school teams when you have plenty within the Beltway to feature? Many DC Examiner readers in the far out rural areas? Good paper with local focus is why I read it. Thanks...
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Examiner Reader said:
Katie and Dana have a really good connection together....and I'm sure will continue ...
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