Princeton capitalizes on archrival's defensive errors

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 18, 2012 1:48 PM

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Princeton manufactured some late-inning magic against a bitter rival.

Rosewood was left feeling the sting of costly self-inflicted wounds.

The Bulldogs took advantage of the Eagles' defensive errors and base running mistakes, and escaped with an eight-inning, 8-6 victory in Carolina 1-A Conference play Tuesday evening. Savanna Massengill's single and a Rosewood error scored two runs to break a 6-6 tie in the extra inning.

Princeton catcher Megan Gerrell led off the game by reaching on an error and later scored on Katlyn Peedin's RBI single. The Bulldogs scored four runs with two outs in the top of the second inning. The outburst was capped by Peedin's two-run single that increased the margin to 5-0.

The Bulldogs (10-5 overall, 5-0 CC) scored seven of their eight runs with two outs.

"We had the hits when we needed them," Princeton head coach Terry Braswell said. "We hit the ball when we needed to. We're getting better at batting with two outs. We're working on that hard."

Rosewood got a run back on Laura Vinson's RBI groundout in the home half of the second inning.

The Eagles left the bases loaded in the third inning before Kayla Hardee scored on an error in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 5-3. Anna Ingram's RBI single pulled Rosewood to within 5-4. Ingram paced the Eagles with three hits and two RBI.

Peedin's two-out RBI single, her third hit of the night, extended Princeton's lead to 6-4 in the top of the sixth inning.

Haley Mercer's pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Vinson as the lead shrunk to 6-5. With runners on second and third base and no outs, Amanda Beckert's sacrifice fly scored Alicia Burns to tie the game at 6-6. Bulldogs' relief pitcher Tori Paul got Scout Anderson to ground out before shortstop Charlie Cox made an over-the-shoulder catch as she fell into shallow left field on Ingram's fly ball to end the inning.

Gerrell and Cox both singled to lead off the top of the eighth inning and advanced on Paul's sacrifice bunt. After Beckert recorded a strikeout, Massengill delivered a two-out single to left field and an error allowed two runs to score. Gerrell finished with three hits.

Paul collected the win inside the pitcher's circle with five innings of relief.

The Eagles not only hurt themselves defensively, but also on the bases. Rosewood (11-2, 3-1) ran into outs at third base four different times, had a runner picked off first base with two outs and the bases loaded, and also had a runner thrown out at home. The Eagles stranded 12 runners on base.

"A lot of the base running errors were committed by upper classmen who should be a lot smarter than that," Rosewood head coach Shay Campbell said. "That was the turning point in the game."

Princeton visits Spring Creek on Thursday, while Rosewood entertains Ayden-Grifton on Friday.