A black-out in Haymarket
Donnie Biggs/News & Messenger
Battlefield pitcher Brittany Black struck out 10 in seven innings on Tuesday.
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By Dave Utnik
Published: May 7, 2008
Only Black didn’t care. Winning meant more to her at the moment than anything she might have to endure from her throbbing pitching hand.
And if that meant throwing one more curve ball, then Battlefield’s junior ace was going to do it.
So with the potential go-ahead run standing just a few feet away at third base and Loudoun Val-ley’s dangerous cleanup hitter Hailey Tretick peering back at her from the batter’s box, Black went with the pitch that hurt more than any other to throw but gave the Bobcats’ softball team its best chance to take over sole possession of first place in the Cedar Run District.
Her thumb protested and Black winced as the ball left her hand, but it was worth it. On Tuesday, desire trumped discomfort when Tretick watched an inside curve break back over the plate for a called third strike to end a seventh-inning comeback.
“She really brought it tonight. You see her hurting and wincing from pain, but she brings it and fights through it,” catcher Courtney Liddle said. “She wants this more than anyone on our team. We know if we want to win in any circumstance Brittany is who we are going to go to.”
Making just her second start in the circle since she injured her hand on a slide at the plate dur-ing the Sports Plus Tournament in Richmond five weeks ago, Black struck out 10 and Battlefield rallied in its final at-bat to beat the Vikings, 3-2, in Haymarket.
After going nearly a month without swinging a bat or even throwing a softball, Black tripled, walked twice and scored a run. But it was her ability to make big pitches when her thumb wanted to rebel that enabled the Bobcats to break a first-place tie.
“It’s sore,” Black said. “It hurts after a lot of pitches. I’ll just have to work through it. Hopefully I won’t have to throw a lot of pitches. That’s what I’m shooting for.”
Black faced only 31 batters on Tuesday. The Vikings (13-3, 9-3) managed seven hits, including an RBI triple by Logan Tretick, but they could never break through for a big inning. Hailey Tretick struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded in the fifth and Loudoun Valley stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and seventh.
The curve was to blame for that.
“Normally her rise ball is the go-to pitch,” Liddle explained. “But we kept throwing the curve because even though it hurt she was throwing it awesome.”
Vikings hurler Caroline Williams had her moments, too. She allowed six hits and struck out seven, but the Bobcats (15-3, 10-2) scored twice in the fourth on consecutive RBI singles by Megan Sutphin and Brittany Clendenny and then won it with two outs in the seventh when Kelsey Sayres reached base on a fielding error and scored from second on an errant throw to first.
“I thought they were going to throw it to third,” Sayres said. “I should have slid, but I didn’t and because I didn’t slide I was up and I saw she threw it to first, which I was completely clueless about, and as soon as I saw (the throw) angled down I ran.”
And she didn’t stop running until her teammates wrapped her in a group hug near the dugout to celebrate their return to first place.
“It’s nice to be back on top again,” Sayres said.
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