It took a while for the offense to get going on Monday evening, but North Greene pitcher Hannah Brooks made sure the game was never in doubt as the Lady Huskies opened the District 1-1A Tournament with a 6-0 win over University High.
“I don’t know that we played our best, we didn’t have the best day at the plate. But I told girls that this time of the year, that if you don’t play your best and you still win it’s a good day,” North Greene coach Avery Weems said. “We’re happy to win and to be moving on. You want to stay in the winners’ bracket and stay in the drivers seat, and we were able to do that.”
The Lady Huskies clung to a narrow lead for much of the day, but Brooks kept the Lady Bucs off the base path with a dominant effort from the rubber. She struck out 13, walked one and scattered five hits. University High did not have multiple runners on base until the sixth inning and did not get multiple hits in an inning until the seventh.
“Hannah worked hard and battled for us. There were times she didn’t have her best stuff, but she worked hard to get outs,” Weems said. “She made some huge pitches in important spots, and that’s what we’re used to seeing out of her. She threw a great game and got us the win.”
North Greene took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Josie Graham led off the side by sending a double deep into left field. A wild pitch moved her up one spot and Charlie Turnmire scored her on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Neither offense could get much going in the ensuing frames. Graham made it to third in the fourth inning after reaching on a bunt single, and in the top fifth University’s Emma Hall reached second, but both were left stranded.
In the fifth inning a big swing from Matti Phillips changed the game. First Kinlea Eastep reached on a groundball through the left side. Then Phillips found a pitch she liked, and she sent a towering blast high into the treetops behind left field. The two-run home run gave North Greene a little breathing room at 3-0.
“That hit was huge. We were up 1-0 and we knew we needed more runs for some insurance. Matti came up with a long home run, it was a bomb,” Weems said. “It was good to see her run into one like that. The last few games she has really come along, and she’s had a great closing stretch to the regular season. That’s what we’re expecting from her now in the postseason.”
Riding the wave of newfound momentum, the Lady Huskies pushed across three more runs in the sixth inning. Turnmire got things going by dropping a single over second base. Jourdanne Marr entered as a pinch hitter and laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt. The Lady Buccaneers threw the ball away at first which allowed Turnmire to score while Marr ended up at third.
Eastep then blasted a triple to the fence in centerfield to stretch the lead to 5-0. She scored when Loren Blevins hit into a two-out error.
On the day Eastep went 3-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Phillips had a two-run home run. Graham was 2-for-3 with a double.
North Greene will be back in action at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at home against Cloudland. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s championship game. The loser will fall to the loser’s bracket.
