Softball: DeWitt shows grit in victory

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By Shannon Heaton | Saturday, July 5, 2008 11:22 PM CDT | () comments

DEWITT, Iowa — Three strikes, you’re out.

On two separate occasions, Maquoketa’s softball team committed the defensive equivalent of three strikes, and, as a result, Central DeWitt advanced to Monday night’s Class 3A Region 7 semifinals, taking advantage of five Cardinals errors and a first-inning obstruction call to knock out the Cardinals 5-2 on Saturday night.

The Sabers (14-25) next will face Assumption, an 11-0 winner over Camanche/Prince of Peace on Saturday night. Game time Monday is 7 p.m. in DeWitt.

“We’ve been slowly getting better with every game. We haven’t won a lot of games all year, and we had some internal problems that we’re working through, but those girls showed true grit tonight,” DeWitt coach Kevin Roling said.

No more was this true than for Saber freshman Lindsay Smith. Smith scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first when she reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second and third on a Hailey Bickford wild pitch and Becca Patterson passed ball.

When she got to third, she found Maquoketa’s Brittany Wilms standing on the bag, and with the ball still not gathered up yet, Smith wanted to make a play for home but couldn’t. The base umpire called obstruction on Wilms, allowing Smith to scamper home.

“I thought there was going to be a play at home; I didn’t know if it was obstruction or not at first, but she (Wilms) was standing right on the bag,” Smith said.

Smith also factored in the Sabers’ four-run fifth inning, which broke the game open in DeWitt’s favor. After getting beaned by Bickford, she wound up scoring all the way from first on a Jennifer Keitel single and bobble by Maquoketa center fielder Sam Clasen, using her sprinter’s speed to score DeWitt’s final run.

“It’s the first time I’ve gotten hit the whole year,” Smith said, laughing. “(Waiting to play all week) was really nerve-wracking. Everyone was really nervous, even at practice. During warmups, we weren’t as rowdy as we usually are.”

Bickford, Patterson and Clasen, along with backup first baseman Sadie Keeney, tried to bring Maquoketa (24-12) back with their bats in the sixth inning, as Bickford homered to open the inning, Patterson doubled and stole third base, scoring on Keeney’s RBI single, and Clasen had the second of her two hits, but two runs was all the Cardinals could muster.

“The pressure got to us a bit,” Maquoketa coach Sarah Nelson said. “When it comes tournament time and these types of games, it comes down to who makes mistakes. It took us a little longer to get our bats going, and we did have some good hits (Maquoketa outhit Central DeWitt 9-2), but not at the right time.”

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.