Pleasant Valley no-hit in regional semifinal

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By Dearrel Bates | Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:38 AM CDT | () comments

ELDRIDGE, Iowa — Melissa Roussel pitched Dubuque Senior’s softball team Monday night to within one win of a spot the Rams haven’t visited in 23 years — the girls state tournament.

Roussel twirled a no-hitter against Pleasant Valley — the 2007 Class 4A state meet runner-up — in the semifinal round of the regional tourney to advance to Wednesday’s title game against Linn-Mar. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Marion.

The 1-0 decision was hard to swallow for the No. 10-ranked Spartans, who had put on a closing regular season rush that included victories in 12 of their past 14 contests. Losing pitcher Anna Sokolik yielded four hits, half coming in the sixth inning when Dubuque Senior scored its run.

“Everybody was telling me I had a no-hitter going, and I would rather had a few more runs to work with,” said Roussel, a junior who had another no-hitter earlier this season. “We swept Linn-Mar earlier this season, so we feel we have a good chance on Wednesday.“

Of the three Dubuque schools (Senior, Hempstead and Wahlert), only Senior has reached the state softball tourney. The Rams (31-10) have been there on nine previous occasions, but not since 1985 when they captured the championship.

The only run for the winners came on a sequence of fluky plays. A bloop single to center by Samantha Lang, a sacrifice, a bad-hop single by Kat Schilling that sent Lang to third and a fielder’s choice grounder to second by Brittany McNab that led to a late throw yielded the game’s lone run.

Roussel certainly wasn’t overpowering as she struck out just two but didn’t walk a batter. Sokolik fanned six and walked one.

Pleasant Valley (24-15) left just two runners on base. Kelsey Jipp was nicked by a pitch in the first with one down, but an infield fly and a grounder to short ended the inning.

In the fifth, Kelsey Weindruch made it to second when her fly ball near the leftfield line was dropped for an error. She was sacrificed to third by Sammy Stephenson but couldn’t score on an infielder bouncer and a pop fly to short.

“We just couldn’t get anything going all night,” said PV first-year head coach Lori Osterberg, whose team had blanked Senior 10-0 in the regular season, although Roussel didn’t pitch.

“As the game went further and further, we started to press a little. Their pitcher kept us off balance and they showed a good, sound defense. We didn’t hit the ball hard all night.”

Lancers, Bulldogs

suspended in fourth inning

After the Pleasant Valley-Dubuque Senior game was 25 minutes late getting started because of a heavy rain shower, it appeared the North Scott-Bettendorf contest would be played without incident.

However, with Bettendorf batting with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, umpires halted the proceedings because of lightning in the area. After a 30-minute wait, lightning was still bouncing around, and the decision was made to postpone it.

At the time, Mississippi Athletic Conference co-champion North Scott has a 5-1 lead. The game will pick up today in Eldridge at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing to Wednesday’s regional title game against Davenport West. West ousted North 3-1 on Monday, and will host the final, with that winner moving on to the state tourney in Fort Dodge next week.

No. 3-ranked North Scott (32-5) had scored two runs in the first off Bettendorf starter Kelsey Rose on a booming two-run homer over the scoreboard in left-center by Jenna Higgins, her fourth of the season. In a three-run fourth off the Bulldogs’ reliever Morgan Lintz, Shari Huber singled in a run and Hallie Eller socked a two-run double.

Bettendorf (23-12), which had split a regular season doubleheader with the Lancers, got its run in the third off North Scott pitcher Brie Haycraft on an error, a sacrifice and Erika Sevigny’s RBI single.

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