Fireworks, of a different sort, suspend Saints' softball game

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on March 21, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Defending state 3-A softball champion D.H. Conley caught fire against Southern Wayne with a six-run, two-out fourth-inning rally on Thursday evening.

One inning later, the Saints' stadium caught on fire.

An electrical light switch malfunctioned and sparks flew from the box as the fire department was called. Firefighters arrived on the scene and Duke Progress Energy electricians safely cut the power by turning off all of the lights.

The umpires suspended the game after a 22-minute delay with the Vikings ahead 9-2. Saints head coach Michael Wiggs said the game will resume when the teams meet April 11 at D.H. Conley.

"That was weird," Saints pitcher Haley Brogden said. "I can't say I've ever been a part of anything like that before."

The timing of the outage was nothing short of ironic in the opinion of fans and coaches.

"After a rally like that I told them they deserved some fireworks," Wiggs joked.

The Saints entered the fourth inning down 3-2 and appeared to have momentum on their side. They tacked on their first two runs in the bottom of the third inning, off a pair of RBI fielder's choices by Claire Kennedy and Haley Warren.

Also, they received a gritty performance out of their freshman pitcher, Brogden, who entered the circle for the first time since the preseason.

"Mentally she's a lot more mature than a freshman," Wiggs said. "I don't worry about her. She's tough."

Despite two costly errors from the Saints defense and two wild pitches from Brogden, she constantly battled out of trouble. In the first inning, she caught a bunted ball in the air and turned a double play to halt the Vikings' momentum after scoring two quick runs.

She got out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam with two strikeouts and a popout in the second inning.

Brogden almost snuck her way out of trouble again in the fourth. After a lead-off double by Makenna Mathis, and a sacrifice bunt by Julia Allsbrook, the Vikings had an important insurance run on third with one out. Brogden induced a ground ball out to third to hold Mathis from scoring.

But Erin Fulcher, the No. 8 hitter, singled to right to get the rally started.

After a 15-0 win to start the season, the Saints are riding a three-game losing streak and have been outscored by 23 runs. But Wiggs credits that to the competition they have played, stating that they have played three top-10 teams in the state closely for the large portion of games.

"I think we're holding our own (against top competition)," Wiggs said. "If we clean up some things we're going to surprise some people."