1A SOFTBALL: North Stanly defense records crucial 7th-inning out

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 5, 2016 1:47 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

RALEIGH -- Did Terry Braswell want a second chance?

Oh yeah.

Down by one with Taylor Carroll at first base and an out on the scoreboard, Hailey Wood dropped a single into center field. Carroll took a turn at second base, looked toward Braswell and momentarily stopped.

Braswell signaled for Carroll to hustle to third.

North Stanly's Mimi Selke gunned down Carroll with a perfect strike to Alexa Sells at the hot corner. Wood watched helplessly as Sam Hogan induced an infield pop-up to second base.

Keri Faulkner reeled it in to seal the Comets' 3-2 triumph in Game 1 of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A softball championship series Friday evening.

Did Braswell second guess himself?

"Oh yeah. But, you know, sometimes you've got to make things happen," he said. "I saw her stop and I should have just stopped myself. It had to be a good throw and it was."

Carroll's out was just a microcosm of the Bulldogs' inability to plate runs. They stranded 10 runners and hit a paltry 1-for-10 with seven in scoring position.

Brianna Myers provided their lone hit -- a two out double that barely missed clearing the left center-field wall at Dail Softball Stadium on the N.C. State campus.

"She said 'I'm going to hit the ball' and she did," PHS catcher Kelsey Peedin said. "We all believed in it."

North Stanly (25-4 overall) set the tone early.

Wood grooved a fastball down the pipe and Comets pitcher Sam Hogan took it for a ride into the power alley to start a two-out, first-inning rally.

Heidi Smith moved Hogan into scoring position with a single. Courtesy runner Whitney Griffin replaced Hogan and she scored, along with Hogan, on Alexa Sells' base knock that bounced past a diving Carroll at shortstop.

Smith drove in the eventual game-winning run -- an RBI fielder's choice that scored Hogan, who tripled into the right center-field gap in the top of the third inning.

"We just weren't ready to play ball," Wood said. "Our heads won't right. We won't ready to make the plays on the ball. We came back a little too late."

Shaken by the defense early, Wood -- an Appalachian State signee -- took matters into her own hands ... well, glove and right hand. She retired the final nine batters she faced and 14 of 15 overall after Hogan scored in the third.

Wood yielded a fourth-inning single.

Princeton (22-3) didn't commit an error on defense, but its early displacement put Wood behind on the scoreboard -- a situation she had faced just twice before this season.

"When the defense came alive, it made it a lot easier on me," Wood said. "We hit the ball for the most part and had more hits, but the first couple of innings we just weren't ready to play ball."