Southern Wayne sweeps Greene Central series

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 11, 2009 1:46 PM

• Print
• Email

DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne bested Greene Central for the second time in a five-day span with a 4-1, non-conference victory on Tuesday afternoon.

Pitcher Madison Davis earned the victory in her varsity debut. Davis tossed five shutout innings, allowed two hits and struck out five batters.

"I thought she did a very good job of hitting her spots," said second-year Southern Wayne head coach Michael Wiggs. "I wanted to get four innings out of her, but when she came in she told me that she was ready to go a little bit longer."

Davis battled out of early trouble by stranding a runner in each of the first two innings.

Southern Wayne seized a 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning when Morgan Davis and Christina Williams led off with back-to-back singles. Madison Davis helped her own cause with a single that loaded the bases, but was gunned down on the basepaths on Brittany Pate's fielder's choice.

Pate's grounder drove in Morgan Davis from third base.

After Greene Central stranded a third runner in scoring position in the top of the third inning, the Saints went back to work at the plate.

Chelsea Phillips led off with a walk and advanced to second when Kayla Gracyk was hit by a pitch. Tara Hirsch loaded the bases by reaching on an error.

Greene Central starter Liz Webb buckled down and recorded back-to-back strikeouts, but tossed a wild pitch that allowed Phillips to score. Darden followed by lacing a single into the outfield and plated two additional runs.

"It seemed like we were one hit away from breaking the game open early," said Wiggs. "The first time we played Greene Central we didn't get a lot of hits but we got everyone in. Tonight we hit the ball better, but we stranded a lot of runners."

Greene Central battled back in the top of the sixth inning.

Jessica Moore reached on an error and was chased around the bases when Shanna Parker belted a double into the left center-field gap. Webb drew a walk to load the bases and Megan Lovett drew a bases-loaded, RBI walk.

Lauren Darden, in a rare relief appearance, settled down and got the Saints out of the jam.

"Lauren was a little upset that she wasn't starting tonight," said Wiggs. "She is a gamer and she wants the ball every time out. We needed to get some innings for Davis, and I knew that Lauren would be ready when she was called on."

Southern Wayne (3-0 overall) continues play Thursday at D.H. Conley.

Webb took the loss for Greene Central (0-3) despite tossing four solid innings. The hard-throwing right hander allowed six hits and struck out four. Moore hurled two innings of perfect relief.