Hawks state champions

By Ted Allen

Published: June 7, 2008

RADFORD — An hour after striking out 13 batters and pitching a two-hit shutout against Glenvar in Saturday’s Group A softball state final, Gretna senior Teresa Dalton sat in the bullpen, soaking up some sun while holding her arm in an ice-packed sling.

Reflecting on one of the best pitching performances of her career, which secured the first state softball championship in school history, Dalton had a certain glow about her.

“It’s definitely a day I’ll never forget,” said Dalton, who graduated with five senior teammates in a pre-game ceremony before delivering the game-winning RBI in the Hawks’ 2-0 triumph over the Highlanders. “This was my last game for high school so I wanted to come out here and give it my all and I did.”

“This was my dream ever since we started playing softball here,” added senior Cheryl Crews, who has caught for Dalton since their eighth-grade year on JV. “It’s a dream come true that we got this far and that we won.”

“It was an awesome feeling,” added senior center fielder and leadoff batter Ceseley Haynes, who slid home with the second run in the top of the sixth. “The best graduation present ever.”

Though Glenvar and Radford share the same nickname, Highlanders senior pitcher Meredith Buckley doesn’t feel at home on RU’s Dedmon Center Field, where three of her four seasons ended with losses. As a freshman, she pitched a no-hitter in the semifinals and lost to eventual champion Gate City on a wild pitch. William Campbell beat Glenvar 4-0 in the state final last spring.

“It was our last game playing together and we didn’t want to go out like that,” said Buckley, who played through a staph infection that started in her eye. “I don’t really like this field.”

Dalton, the Dogwood District pitcher of the year, loved her only appearance on it. She atoned for a shaky start by her defense by striking out nine through the first three innings. Gretna committed three of its five errors in the first two frames, but emerged unscathed.

“She was striking out everyone,” Crews said. “Her curveball was working really well today and so was the changeup, and of course the fastball always works. They were just swinging and missing.”

Finally in the top of the fourth, the Hawks manufactured the first of two runs when left-handed hitting freshman Nicole Mills doubled over the head of left fielder Kaitlyn Barnett, advanced to third on the first of two sacrifice bunts by Nina Compton and scored on Dalton’s sacrifice fly to deep center.

“We just go step by step,” Compton said. “A runner gets on, we bunt them over and get a shot to send them home.”

“They played good fundamental ball,” added Highlanders coach Spike Harrison, who has coached the Highlanders to five state titles in his 25 years at Glenvar, the last in 1997. “They got the runs in, we didn’t. That’s about it.”

Gretna got out of its only jam in the bottom of the fourth when Dalton hit leadoff batter Julie Helton with a pitch and the Hawks’ final two errors put runners on second and third with no outs. But Crews fielded Jordan Herald’s squeeze bunt in front of the plate and cut down Helton for the first out before catching Jessica Horn’s pop-up near Gretna’s dugout. Compton, who committed two errors that let Herald get to second in the second, fielded Julianna Caldwell’s hard-hit grounder to second to squelch the threat. 

“At that point, they were unstoppable,” Gretna coach Ketina Brooks said. “If they could get out of that jam, they could do anything. I told them to let me do the worrying and I tried to let them have fun.”

The way Dalton was pitching, the Hawks practically put the game out of reach by adding a second run in the sixth.

Haynes got on by being grazed by a pitch from Buckley, stole second, was bunted to third by Compton and scored on Buckley’s wild pitch that hit the plate and skipped to the backstop with Dalton at bat.

“I knew we needed a little insurance so I went in there and slid and gave it my all,” said Haynes, who hesitated at first before deciding to go. “I realized how far the backstop was so I believed in my speed and put the jets on. I slid around the catcher and I hooked my arm around the (tag).”

A humble group of Hawks brought some glory back to Gretna’s girls athletic program.

“Football ain’t the only thing Gretna’s got,” read one poster held by a proud parent.

While the Hawks’ football team has won three state titles in the past five seasons, this was the first state championship for a female sport at Gretna since it won a Group AA crown in volleyball in 1993.

“I talked to the coach of that team, Gloria Motley, this week and she said, ‘Ketina, go up there this weekend, relish in the fact (that you’re there) and tell the team this will be the most memorable experience of their lives,” Brooks said.

And, as Dalton can attest, it was.