Lady Bears beat Narrows

BLAND COUNTY TAKES OUT GREEN WAVE 11-4
By JERRY SCOTT/Staff

Laurel Hankins tripled and doubled en route to driving in six runs as Bland County’s Bears took Narrows out of the 2008 MED softball tournament field by shellacking the Green Wave 11-4 in Bastian on May 19. The hits were two of only three that the fourth seeded Bears collected as a team in improving to 10-7 for the season.
Senior Jessica Coburn doubled for the remaining Bland County hit while Narrows third baseman Brittany Kast had the lone hit for the fifth seeded Green Wave in the form of a sixth inning single. The hit drove in two of her three runs batted in.
Hankins ripped a double in the first inning that gave the Bears a 2-0 advantage. The hit scored Cari Neal and Danielle May, both of whom had walked off Narrows starter and losing pitcher Courtney Ball, who struck out 12 but walked nine Bears.
A walk to May, two stolen bases, and a flyout by Hankins made it 3-0 in the third inning before Narrows came through with two runs in the top of the fourth that trimmed their deficit to 3-2. Ball and Kast were credited with RBIs in the inning after drawing bases loaded walks, two of 12 issued by the Bears’ May, who improved to 4-7 with the win. May also fanned eight.
Three Narrows errors led to a Bears run in the bottom of the fourth and two more fifth inning fielding errors led to two more runs as Bland County’s lead jumped to 6-2. Narrows was victimized by a porous defense that committed a total of eight errors.
The top of the sixth saw Narrows score twice to draw to within 6-4 with Kast’s two-out, two-run single plating Helen Perdue and Crickett Blankenship, both on with walks. With the tying run at bat, Abby Davis popped out to May to squelch any additional scoring chances.
The Bears then erupted for five runs in the bottom of the fifth with the benefit of just one hit. A Narrows error and three walks let two runs in and Hankins crashed a bases loaded triple to account for the other three runs.
With the win, the Bears advanced into the tourney semifinals to meet top seed Grayson County on May 20. Third seed Galax defeated Pocahontas, the sixth seed, in another quarterfinal tilt by a score of 10-0, advancing to face second ranked Fort Chiswell in another semifinal matchup on the 20th.

#5 Narrows 0 0 0 2 0 2 0—4 1 8
#4 Bland County 2 0 1 1 2 5 x—11 3 0
Ball and Davis. D. May and Hankins. WP—D. May (4-7). LP—Ball. HR—none.