Short-handed WCS tops Northwood

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on April 9, 2006 2:08 AM

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Traci Davis struck out a whopping 16 hitters and went 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of extra-base hits Friday afternoon as state-ranked Wayne Christian scored a run in the home half of the seventh to slip past visiting Northwood 6-5.

The Lady Eagles, ranked No. 3 in the Carolina Christian 1-A Conference, improved to 9-1 overall with the one-run win. Wayne Christian played the game with just eight players as three Eagles -- left fielder Hope Wright, second baseman and outfielder Charity Wright and utility player Lindley Pierce -- missed the game due to illness.

Davis led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and scored the game-winning run one out later when Michelle Krug laced a single up the middle off Northwood pitcher Beth Richie.

"(Richie) threw it straight down the middle," said Krug, who finished the afternoon 2-for-4. "It felt really good to win this one -- especially playing with just eight players."

Eagles coach Roger Longwell said Davis did a great job of keeping the visitors from exposing a wide-open left field. The only time Northwood (7-5) was able to pull the ball into left, Eva Cartwright cleared the bases with a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the fifth that put Wayne Christian in a 3-2 hole at the time.

"She had a good screwball that she kept on the outside so they couldn't pull it," Longwell said. "I told her at the beginning of the game that she needed to step up and live on that outside corner and bring it inside only if they were crowding the plate."

Davis (6-1) walked just one hitter in the game, struck out six straight at one point and allowed seven hits. In 38 innings this season, Davis has fanned a whopping 69 hitters and has given up just 11 earned runs (2.03 ERA). She's also hitting an incredible .649.

"Besides the Cape Fear game (Wayne Christian's only loss), this was our toughest game of the year," Davis said. "We just had to dig down and keep fighting."

Also for the Eagles, Brittany Sullivan was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and scored two runs for Wayne Christian, which had to rally from two runs down late in the game after taking a 2-0 lead after three innings.

Wayne Christian returns to action on Monday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader against Goldsboro.

Northwood 000 130 1 -- 5 7 4

W. Christian 002 030 1 -- 6 11 4

Leading hitters -- Northwood -- Beth Richie 3 1Bs, 2 runs; Eva Cartwright HR, 1B, run, 2 RBI; Krista Kendall HR, run, RBI; Linda Miller 1B. Wayne Christian -- Traci Davis 4-4, 2B, 3B, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Brittany Sullivan 2-3, 2B, 2 runs, RBI; Michelle Krug 2-4, RBI; Reagan Hinton 1B; Kayla Kennedy 1B; Danielle Pender 1B, RBI.

IP H R ER BB SO

Northwood (7-5)

B. Richie (L) 61/3 11 6 4 3 4

Wayne Christian (9-1)

T. Davis (W) 7 7 5 5 1 16