TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Dragons Can't Stop Tiger Attack

Brian Gjurgevich/Highlands Today

The Lake Placid infield meets during the sixth inning on Tuesday against Clewiston.

ADVERTISEMENT

By BRIAN GJURGEVICH

Highlands Today

Published: February 26, 2009

Updated:

LAKE PLACID - In the first two innings of it district meeting with Clewiston on Tuesday, the Lake Placid softball team looked about as in control as any team could hope for.

The last two innings, however, any control was firmly on the side of the Tigers, who scored 20 unanswered runs - including 16 over the last two innings - to come from behind and wallop the host Dragons and send a lesson to every player in green.

"It was emotions," said LP captain Christina Wells. "We messed up plays defensively and we couldn't recover from them. We dug ourselves in a ditch."

Lake Placid coach Marilyn Jones called the fifth and sixth innings "terrible" and "horrible" in the same breath and said the team will need to simply put this loss behind them and not let it sneak up on their confidence.

"We practice and play much better than this and we're much more talented than we showed," Jones said after her team committed seven errors. "We had balls bouncing out of our gloves and people not knowing where to throw the ball.

"Hopefully, this is something we've gotten out of our system."

LP catcher Ashley Paeplow said the Dragons need to keep their heads up when they make mistakes, and there's no error that can't be recovered from.

"You have to pick your head up," Paeplow said. "As soon as you start showing your anger, people make mistakes. If you make a mistake, you have to brush it off - as mad as you get, you have to deal with it."

Clewiston, which was led by Whitney Irey's 4-for-4 and Katie Whidden's 3-for-5, four-run day, jumped ahead in the first when Christina Sandoval ripped a shot to the right field wall to score Sarah Howell.

But the Dragons (2-3) immediately responded, loading the bases in the bottom of the first and netting their first run when Alyssa Allen knocked home Ashley Wells on a fielder's choice. With the bases still juiced, Paeplow slammed a double off the centerfield fence to score Jessica Wantuck, Christina Wells and Allen, while Diane Martinez followed with an RBI groundout to put LP up 5-1 after one inning.

After a quick half-inning, the Dragons added another run when a would-be inning ending grounder was booted, scoring Amanda Wood to put the Dragons up 6-1.

But that's when the Tigers took over, scoring 20 unanswered runs on 13 hits and seven Lake Placid errors.

"We made some heads-up plays, but then we started making some really dumb plays," said Jones, who noted she felt like her team often looks too excited when the ball's in play, and that they need to settle down and know what to do with the ball. "I'm not sure I can use this loss in a positive matter. Clewiston has always beat us and I thought we had a shot at them if we had come out and kept playing.

"But we just shut down."

Christina Wells, who finished 1-for-3 with a run scored, said the Dragons need to talk more on the field.

"We need to bring each other up and we can't tell at each other or anything like that," Wells said. "It's all about spirit and we need to keep our spirits up."

Paeplow said the team needed to get back to basics at practice before their next game, which is set for 7 p.m. today against DeSoto.

"We need to work on everything," said Paeplow, who was 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI. "It's fundamentals. Calling out plays killed us, and that's partly my fault. We really have to work on communication."

NOTES: - Clewiston's ninth hitter, Shelby Mitchell, was 3-for-4 with three runs scored ... Ashley Wells was 1-for-2 with a stolen base and a run, while Alyssa Allen had a run scored and an RBI ... Clewiston pitcher Katie Whidden allowed just one hit over the final five innings and struck out four on the night.

Brian Gjurgevich can be reached at 863-386-5841 or bgjurgevich@highlandstoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT