C.B. Aycock rolls in first-round matchup

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on May 19, 2005 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Going into the Class 3-A N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, Charles B. Aycock coach David West emphasized aggressiveness at the plate during recent practices.

Wednesday night at home against Erwin Triton, the extra focus paid off.

The Golden Falcons banged out 10 hits against Hawks' sophomore Amanda Miller and took advantage of four Erwin Triton errors on their way to a 7-0 win in the first round of the postseason.

Aycock (19-3), the three-time defending Eastern Carolina Conference champion, will host the winner of West Brunswick and Wilson Beddingfield on May 24 at 5 p.m. in the second-round.

Erwin Triton, the third seed from the Big Eight South, finished the season at 16-6.

Six Aycock players knocked in at least one run with Jenny Jackson leading the outburst with two extra-base hits. The senior pitcher brought home her teams' seventh run with a triple in the right-center field gap to score Julia Lancaster, who singled to start the sixth.

Jasmine Dobbin, Brittani Edgerton, Chrissy Setliff, Chelsey Byers and Jazzmine Lee each posted one RBI, while Rusti Talton and Kandace Burroughs both scored once and had one hit apiece.

By games end, all 11 players that had a plate appearance for Aycock either knocked home a run or crossed home safely. Only two Falcons struck out.

"They (Erwin Triton) are quick on defense and they have a pretty decent pitcher. We've been practicing taking the outside pitch and going to right and the inside pitch and going to left," Aycock coach David West said. "I thought the girls were aggressive at the plate."

Meanwhile, Jackson, who went the distance, was stout again on the mound. The senior standout struck out 11 and walked none, facing just one batter off of the minimum. Erwin Triton managed just two hits with Amanda Langdon singling to start the third and Miller posting a base hit with two outs in the seventh.

Jackson (13-2) faced just three, three ball counts and struck out seven of eight batters in innings four through six.

When the Hawks put it in play, Jackson's defense was solid behind her -- committing no errors. Aycock shortstop Shelly Lancaster highlighted the glovework, making a nice stop up the middle, then throwing to Julia Lancaster at first to retire Tori Jackson for the second out of the seventh.

With one out in the third, Jackson snagged a line drive headed up the middle off of the bat of Jordan Grady, then doubled off Jamie McLeod at first for the final out.

"Our defense was on their toes tonight. I thought they kept their focus the whole time," West said. "When the ball was in play, they were ready."

Aycock jumped out to a hot start offensively with Dobbin starting the bottom of the first with a triple to left. Dobbin got caught in a run-down after Brittani Edgergton's bunt, but eventually out-raced Hawks' third baseman, McLeod, and slid into home for the first run.

After a single by Talton with two outs in the first, the Falcons posted their second run as McLeod interfered with Burroughs as she stepped on third. The interference proved to be the first of four Erwin Triton errors, eventually leading to three unearned runs.

Miller finished with only one walk on the mound for the Hawks, while allowing 10 hits and four earned runs.

Erwin Triton coach Jimmy Gaines was impressed with his opponent, but felt his team should have made a better showing defensively.

"I'm not taking one thing away from them, but you can't dig a hole by getting down four runs," Gaines said. "We should have been out of the first inning. We made some mental mistakes that I assure you we won't make again.

"They (Aycock) are very good ball club and I can assure you, they are going to be in Walnut Creek."

Aycock's aggressiveness on the bases paid off on several occasions, but the Falcons also had three runners doubled off of third and stranded eight runners.

"You never want to leave anybody on the bases. We are getting a lot of base runners with two outs," West said. "You've got to get the timely hits, but we did get a couple of them tonight."

Notes: The Falcons are now 10-5 in the playoffs since 2002 and have advanced to the second round for at least the third straight year ... In the same stretch, Aycock is 3-3 against the Big Eight South with its only losses against the conference coming to Harnett Central. After the first inning Wednesday, T.J. Lancaster, a three-sport assistant coach at Aycock, was named the schools 2005 Volunteer of the Year.