Sayres comes through as Battlefield softball advances
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By Dave Utnik
Published: May 26, 2008
And when it does, she just ignores the pain.
Battlefield’s junior right fielder realizes that the Bobcats have the potential to make history this spring and she wants to be a part of that. Even if it means grimacing every time she sprints down the baseline.
Playing softball with a broken toe isn’t her idea of a good time. But it’s way better than sitting in the dugout, which is what Sayres did during the Cedar Run District playoffs.
So when she returned to the starting lineup against Woodbridge on Monday, Sayres braced her-self for some occasional discomfort and helped the Bobcats earn an 8-4 victory in the opening round of the Northwest Region Tournament.
“It’s throbbing right now. It really hurts, but I’m so happy,” Sayres said after going 1 for 3 and scoring two runs as the team’s No. 8 hitter.
“I’m so excited because when [doctors] first told me about my toe they told me my season was done,” she said.
Sayres ignored that, too.
With Battlefield needing just one more victory — against North Stafford on Wednesday — to clinch a berth in the Group AAA state tournament for the first time in their four-year history, Sayres laced up her cleats and ran as hard and fast as her toe would allow.
“It’s not really hard, it just hurts and you have to push through things that hurt,” she said. “It’s definitely worth it.”
The Bobcats (21-3) began the postseason with one objective — to win nine consecutive games. The Vikings were victim No. 4 and now Battlefield finds itself approaching uncharted territory.
And that’s why it’s so important for Sayres to be on the field.
All of the Bobcats feel that way.
“We just want to prove ourselves,” senior pitcher Megan Sutphin said.
The visiting Vikings can relate to that. They are a team of the future that arrived ahead of schedule thanks to some star players like catcher Amanda Hernandez, freshman shortstop Melissa Martinez and pitcher Colleen Williamson, who had a three-run double and scored a run.
Woodbridge will undoubtedly be heard from again, but this is the Bobcats’ time.
They’ve improved in each of their four seasons of existence and are now poised to become a le-gitimate state title contender — if they can continue to hit the ball the way they did on Monday.
Most of Battlefield’s victories against quality postseason caliber teams have come in dramatic fashion with the international tiebreaker becoming an all too familiar friend. Clutch hits have been the norm, but the Bobcats may have witnessed their true potential against Woodbridge as all nine starters had at least one hit.
“We seem to make games interesting. It’s not that we can’t hit. I don’t know where the consis-tency’s at,” Sutphin said. “To have to rely on one person to hit and get that big hit, eventually that’s not going to happen and we’re going to lose so this is a relief to me because maybe we’re going to continue that.”
And it was fitting that the team’s most dangerous hitter, Brittany Black, got the rally started on Monday. Her one-out triple in the fourth inning sparked a five-run outburst that featured an RBI single from Shannon Cleary and a run-scoring double by Brittany Clendenny.
Even Sutphin, who hurled a complete-game four-hitter, chipped in with an RBI base hit in the fifth.
“It’s a lot of pressure off of me in the circle when my team is hitting behind me,” Sutphin said. “I’ve been struggling a little bit lately [at the plate] but I got my one hit today so I’m happy with that.”
Sayres was thrilled with hers too.
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