Monday, May 7, 2012

Leesburg Gets Power From Unlikely Source, March 28, 2001


Morgan Wainscott, Hitting .222, Boosted Her Average And Her Team In A 14-4 Win.

March 28, 2001|By Herky Cush of The Sentinel Staff
 
LEESBURG -- Morgan Wainscott put a hurting on Umatilla with both her arm and her bat Tuesday night as Leesburg defeated the Bulldogs 14-4 in five innings.

Wainscott, who went into the game hitting .222, delivered three hits, including a double and triple.

"I am a slap hitter,'' Wainscott said. "Tonight I was looking to put the ball in the gap.''

Wainscott authored a single and triple in the Yellow Jackets 11-run third that broke the gameopen. Her battery mate, Shana Granger, also had three hits on the night and contributed a double and single in the third-inning surge.

"We had a little talk before the game,'' Leesburg Coach Tracey Hanson said. "I told them to be a little more aggressive at the plate.

"We did a nice job of getting things started with the bunt and then started to hit.''

A walk opened the inning for Leesburg (6-10) and the next two batters reached on errors. Then the floodgates broke open as Wainscott singled and Ericka Vasquez reached on a fielder's choice when Umatilla committed its third error of the inning. Granger followed with a two-run double and then came singles by Lindsey Carter and Tosha Moyer. Later in the inning another string of five hits was started by the ninth batter in the order, Jamie Clemons. Leslie Mills reached on a single, Wainscott tripled, Vasquez singled and Granger reached on an infield single. The hit by Clemons drove in a pair of runs.

The Yellow Jackets collected nine hits in the inning.

Mills' two-run single in the fourth helped the Yellow Jackets push their advantage to 10 runs.

"We are low on confidence,'' Umatilla Coach Stacy Ciccolo said. "Often when we make one error it really hurts us. We have to be careful not to make that first mistake.''

The Bulldogs (8-5) missed out on a golden chance in the third inning when they managed a single, walk and three more singles but could manage only one run. Kaite Harder singled to open the inning and Kelli Richards walked. Sarah Wilson singled to left but Harder was caught at the plate trying to score.Carter made the throw to the plate to get the out.Kaitlin Dillard singled to left to score Richards. Morgan Fuqua singled to load the bases with one out but the Bulldogs could not get the clutch hit.

"That was a big chance for us,'' Ciccolo said. "Bases loaded and only one out. We needed to get a hit in that situation.''

In the fourth the Bulldogs scored three times on infield singles by Richards and Dillard and a double by Wilson. Two Leesburg errors also helped the Bulldog cause.

Umatilla started the game strong enough, making six excellent plays in the field behind Morgan Fuqua in the first two innings. But the three errors early in the third inning proved to be the opening that Leesburg needed to break things open.

Wainscott and Granger each had three hits on the night while Mills had two hits and knocked in four runs. Moyer also had a pair of hits.

Wilson and Dillard each had two hits for the Bulldogs.



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