Pitching duel leaves Altavista just Short of beating WC

By Ted Allen

Published: May 12, 2008

NARUNA — Whenever William Campbell’s Amber Marstin and Altavista’s Brooke Short pitch against one another on the softball field, the two juniors are bound to get into an intense duel.

Monday’s meeting was no exception as Marstin tossed a one-hit shutout, with Short breaking up the no-hitter to lead off the fourth. She struck out 10 Colonels and walked only one.

Short pitched a masterful game herself, aside from hitting Marstin twice. She struck out eight in six innings, allowing just two unearned runs on two hits, both in the fourth inning after Altavista committed two of its three errors.

“Brooke pitched an outstanding game, Amber pitched an outstanding game and we just happened to have an inning where we got the bat on the ball a little bit and broke it open,” William Campbell coach Chris Smith said.

After winning the first meeting 1-0 at Altavista on a solo home run in the top of the seventh by Heather Littles, who ended Short’s no-hit bid, the Generals (12-3, 9-2) swept the season series with Monday’s 2-0 triumph.

The win pulled William Campbell back into a tie with Altavista (11-5, 9-2) for second place in the Dogwood District standings behind Gretna.

“We were tied for first (with Gretna) going into this,” Altavista coach Tim Fenn said. “We’re now tied with (the Generals) for second.”

“It keeps the door open for us,” Smith added. “If they beat Gretna on Friday, (and the Generals beat Chatham) there’s a three-team playoff (for the district regular-season title) on Saturday. That’ll be interesting.”

Short had a no-hitter going through three innings, striking out four in a row before Lauren Marstin led off the fourth with a slap hit that Altavista shorstop Courtney Davis couldn’t handle cleanly, allowing Marstin to reach first safely.

“It was a slap hit and (Marstin’s) fast,” Short said. “(Davis) bobbled it.”

Marstin stole second before Rasheeda Crews reached on a fly ball to center that was dropped by Amanda Sandridge, setting the table for Generals clean-up hitter Jessica Reamy. She belted a high pitch from Short into the left-center field gap for a two-run double.

“Today, our defense let us down and we weren’t able to make the pitch to get out of the inning as we’ve done all year,” Fenn said. “Our defense all year long has been outstanding and when we have had an error, we’ve made the pitch to get out of the inning. Today, (Reamy) battled us, hit a rise ball for a double and scored both runs.”

The Colonels’ hitters couldn’t get on top of Marstin’s offerings. They wasted their best scoring chance in the top of the first when leadoff batter Kacey Angell got on by error on a comebacker to pitcher Marstin, who then walked Davis before retiring Short, Dana Robertson and Sandridge in order.

“We had an opportunity to score one in the first and a couple in the fourth and we just didn’t come up with a timely hit and they did,” Fenn said.

Smith said Marstin had a lot to do with that.

“This was probably the best game she’s pitched all year and, team-wise, this was probably the best game we’ve played overall all year long,” he said. “It’s a good time of year to be playing your best ball.”

“Amber pitched great,” Fenn added. “She moved the ball up and down and in and out on us. Amber out-pitched us today.”

Short hasn’t beaten William Campbell since her freshman season, which was also the last time the Colonels won the regular-season title. She is hoping to face Martsin once more before next week’s district tournament.

“One more shot,” Short said.