Manchester's magical run continues with 2-1 victory over Southmont
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Barry Lewis-
NEW MARKET – Manchester pitcher Brooklyn Howard admitted she was nervous the entire game, but you couldn’t tell as she helped lead her team to its first softball regional title Tuesday night with a 2-1 win at Southmont. With just one senior on the roster, and playing last year’s Class 2A state runner-up, it would have easy for the Lady Squires to play tight and be a bit intimidated. Manchester, however, played loose and scored first and never trailed. That doesn’t mean there weren’t a few intense times. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mounties (19-11) got their first batter on and that brought the top of the order to the plate. Howard fell behind in the count 3-0 to Rachel Welliever and was in jeopardy of putting the go-ahead runner on. “I was very nervous,” Howard said. “I was extremely nervous before the game and in that last inning. I didn’t want to throw it right down the middle because they are very good hitters. I just had to let my defense do their thing and they did.” Howard battled back and struck out Welliever and then a pair of fly balls ended the Mounties’ threat and sent the Squires into celebration mode. The Squires, who improved to 16-8, drew first blood with a run in the second inning after a 1-2-3 first inning. Cierra Carter, the lone senior on the team, led off the inning with a hit. Ellie Milam followed with a hit and they were both sacrificed to second and third. A ground out by Mattie McKee resulted in the first run of the game. The Mounties came right back and tied the game with a double in the bottom of the inning, but the Squires scored what turned out to be the winning run in the third inning. Tabby Porter, who entered the game hitting just .109, reached on a base hit, stole second and went to third on a hit by Sydney Day. Howard laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Day to second, but Porter had to stay at third. Celina Carter grounded out to short but Porter scored. “I am so proud of our girls,” Manchester coach Brittany Holmes said. “Whether our girls hit first or last they can all hit and that was proved tonight. Everyone did their job and got the runs we needed. We have to scratch and claw for every run but we find a way.” When asked if playing the defending state runner-up intimidated her team or not, Holmes replied “I’m not sure they even realized that or not. They knew they had won a regional but I don’t know if they knew much more than that. We are just playing one game at a time. This is all new to us, so we are going to enjoy it.” The Lady Squires managed to pick up six hits and were led by McKee, who had two. Manchester will continue postseason Saturday in a 1 p.m. semifinal game against No. 9 Elwood in the LaVille Semistate. Third-ranked Bremen and No. 15 Boone Grove square off in the 11 a.m. semifinal. The Lady Squires are on a seven-game win streak, outscoring their opponents 53-5 during that span.
MANCHESTER 2, SOUTHMONT 1 Manchester 011 000 0 – 2 6 3 Southmont 010 000 0 – 1 4 0 Manchester – Howard (W, 12-5, 7IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K) Southmont – Laws (L, 17-11, 7IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K) 2B – England Records: Manchester 16-8, Southmont 19-11
