Sutphin helps Bobcats win
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By Dave Utnik
Published: May 22, 2008
Her fastball zips across the plate with a combination of strength, speed and emotion, making it even more difficult than usual to hit.
This is Sutphin’s final season playing softball — she may try to walk on at college, but the reality is that when Battlefield’s season finally ends her career may be over as well — so she sprints onto the diamond, whether it’s in right field or the pitcher’s circle, with a little extra incentive tucked up her jersey sleeve.
“As long as we can keep going it’s really fun for me,” Sutphin said. “I’m hoping to go out with two thumbs up.”
In Battlefield lingo that means winning the Group AAA state tournament. And Sutphin helped her team move one game closer to achieving that goal on Thursday by throwing a complete-game four-hitter as the Bobcats captured their second straight Cedar Run District Tournament champi-onship with a 2-1 victory over Loudoun Valley.
“I don’t usually get nervous before games but for some reason I had a flutter before that one,” said Sutphin, who started as a freshman on Battlefield’s first varsity team four years ago and is now a respected team leader.
With the seedings for Monday’s Northwest Region Tournament already determined, the Bobcats (20-3) were playing mainly for a banner, a trophy and to extend their winning streak to 12 games.
Sutphin did her part by allowing one hit over the final six innings and clean-up batter Brittany Black delivered the big hit – a two-run double in the fourth inning that wiped out a one-run deficit.
“It’s our third straight year [playing in the championship game] and we’ve known the bitterness of a close loss and the joy of a close win,” Battlefield coach Joe Schelzo said. “We prefer the close win.
“It’s important to keep momentum going, too.”
Loudoun Valley helped out a bit in that area by taking starting pitcher Caroline Williams out of the game in the fourth inning despite the fact that she was throwing a perfect game.
“We’re not really sure why they did that but we took advantage of it,” Sutphin said.
While Williams sat in the dugout braiding a teammate’s hair, the Bobcats rallied against senior Haley Athey. Kaitlyn Sileo, the team’s other senior, broke up the perfect game with a one-out single and then Courtney Liddle lined a base hit into left field. That brought Black, the Bobcats’ best hit-ter, to the plate and she brought both runners home by crushing a pitch into the center field gap.
“Sometimes it will be our eight hitter, our nine hitter, our number one hitter,” Schelzo said. “Tonight Brittany came through. Occasionally, it is the big guns in the middle of the lineup too.”
It’s enough to make Sutphin flutter all over again as Battlefield prepares to play Woodbridge in Monday’s regional opener.
“It feels pretty good,” she said. “I think people look up to us because of our ability so to be part of a team like that is an honor.”
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