March 22, 2011

Final Stats

FAYETTEVILLE, NC - Early in Tuesday's first game of a doubleheader against West Virginia State, several different Fayetteville State Lady Broncos' players had trouble fielding fly balls.

Despite those troubles - a couple of errors in the first inning led to the Lady Yellow Jackets scoring a run -- Fayetteville State ace Olivia Peavey had managed to work around them as the Lady Broncos took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning.

And Fayetteville State held that lead with two outs in the inning and a runner on second - until a misplayed blooper fell between three Fayetteville State defenders.

It was ruled a single off the bat of Bobbie Harper, and with Brittany Hyatt running on contact, West Virginia State was able to tie the game and sending it into extra innings - where the Lady Jackets prevailed after three runs in the eighth to win 5-2.

West Virginia State (10-4), which won five of its six games against CIAA competition over the course of less than a week, won the second game 10-1.

Peavey (So., Siler City, NC) pitched well enough to win, allowing just the unearned run in the first before West Virginia State tied the game in the seventh. And, aside from a couple of early miscues, the Lady Broncos (11-23) as a group played well enough to beat a team that had swept Virginia State and split with Chowan.

Quristeen Brown (Fr., Greensboro, NC) hosed a runner at the plate to preserve the Broncos' 2-1 lead in the sixth, and earlier had robbed Harper of extra bases with a pretty running backhanded catch in the left-center field gap with a runner on second to end the fifth.

Fayetteville State took a 2-1 lead in the first inning with both runs coming off of West Virginia State ace Kelsey Lorraine, who was 19-6 with a 2.14 ERA a year ago for a Lady Jackets team that won 34 games. April Branch (Sr., Watha, NC) doubled home a run to tie the game before Peavey traded places with her to drive in the go-ahead run.

But Lorraine soon settled in, at one point retiring 12 straight batters. Lorraine finished working the complete eight innings, fanning 12 while walking just one to earn the victory.

Fayetteville State had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Lorraine stranded a runner at third when she got Malia Blue (Fr., Sanford, NC) to line out to first.

After that, West Virginia State regained control in the eighth, getting an RBI single from Poppy Ramey and a two-run double from Mallory Hilton to take the 5-2 edge.

The Lady Broncos tried to mount a rally in the bottom half of the frame, but the Lady Jackets shortstop Hyatt made a dazzling over the-the-shoulder diving catch in short left field to quell the threat.

West Virginia State, behind the stellar pitching of Sara Pelegreen, got on top of the Lady Broncos early in the second game, taking a 6-0 lead after two innings. Pelegreen picked up the victory after five effective innings. She struck out nine and walked just one.