Hawks charge over Chargers

By Ted Allen

Published: June 3, 2008

GRETNA — Standing on third, representing the winning run in Tuesday’s Group A state quarterfinal against Middlesex, Gretna’s Ceseley Haynes had the green light from coach Ketina Brooks.

Knowing she could go on a ground ball as soon as she saw the throw leave the infielder’s hand, the senior leadoff didn’t hesitate, sprinting down the line and crashing across home plate with an all-out, sacrificial slide.

“I dove in head-first,” said Haynes, who scored on Nina Compton’s comebacker to Middlesex senior pitcher Janie Holmes. “I got a couple scratches and burns, but I’m still alive.”

And so are the Hawks.

The slide, similar to the one Haynes used to score Gretna’s first run in the third, capped a miraculous four-run rally in the seventh that sealed the Hawks’ 5-4 triumph over the Chargers.

“(Brooks) taught us to always stay up and we can do great things,” said Raquel Martin, who sparked the rally with the first of five straight hits off Holmes, who will pitch at Roanoke College. “It’s unbelievable, but we did it.”

And they celebrated with a victory lap around the warning track, offering their fans high-fives and hugs along the way.

The improbable comeback sends Gretna (19-4) to Friday’s Final Four at Radford at 1 p.m., when it will face the winner of today’s rain-delayed game between James River and Coeburn.

“It feels awesome, it was so exciting,” said ninth batter Sarah Scruggs, who lined a first-pitch, opposite-field hit to right, later scoring the tying run on a fielder’s choice to first by freshman Nicole Mills. “I was running as hard as I could and I just dove. I got dirt down my pants … but it’s OK because we’re going to the ship (championship semis).”

With Holmes pitching with a 4-1 lead, the Hawks’ chances of mounting a rally appeared to be slipping away in a steady drizzle, after a 10-minute downpour suspended the game for nearly half an hour before the start of the third. They had managed just two infield hits off of Holmes through the first six innings and started the seventh with their seventh strikeout of the game.

But seventh batter Martin gave Gretna a glimmer of hope by lifting a flare over the outstretched glove of shortstop Amanda Brown into left center.

“I knew all it took was one hit, whether it was by me or the person behind me,” said Martin, the first of four seniors to hit singles. “All it took was one.”

“The bottom of the lineup got it done for us,” added Brooks, who was sick, but didn’t show it, eliciting crowd support before the Hawks came up to bat.

Eighth batter Kerri Meadows followed with a single to left before Martin cut the lead to 4-2 with alert baserunning on Scruggs’ hit to right, scoring when a throw from home to third bounced past her.

“She saw something that I didn’t, that no one was covering the plate,” Brooks said. “Sometimes, being too aggressive can hurt you. Today it helped us.”

Middlesex coach Wade Traynham said that was the play that let Gretna back in the game.

“That gave them momentum (and) when the momentum switches from one team to another, it’s hard to switch it back,” he said.

After setting Middlesex down in order through the first three innings, Gretna senior Teresa Dalton gave up a double and two runs in the fourth and a triple off the glove of a diving Haynes and two more runs in the sixth. Two of the runs were unearned on three of the Hawks’ five errors.

“We made a few errors, but we didn’t let that get us down,” Meadows said. “We stayed up the whole time and kept believing that we could do it. We just really wanted it and we had to make it happen.”

Dalton, who tossed a five-hitter with six strikeouts, hopes the Hawks can get their bats going earlier in the Final Four.

“We definitely gave the crowd and exciting game (but) it was too emotional,” she said. “I was sitting on the bench kind of praying … cheering my teammates on … because it was out of my hands. To come out of the bottom (of the lineup) like that … we were determined to win that last inning and we did what we had to do to pull it out.”