Published: September 17, 2008 09:25 am      

Lady Trojans rally to knock off Quitman

By Chris Brennaman

assistant sports editor

On the coldest night so far in this softball team, Northeast Lauderdale took out Division 5-4A's hottest team.

The Lady Trojans dug themselves out of a two-run deficit and held off a late rally by Quitman to down the previously unbeaten Lady Panthers 7-5.

"I am really proud of these girls," said Northeast coach Chris Harper. "We didn't play very well against Enterprise (a 7-5 loss on Monday). We were a totally opposite team (Tuesday night).

"We came a long way in this game. I'm proud that we never gave up."

NEL (8-7, 3-1) didn't take the lead until the sixth inning.

Quitman (8-1, 4-1) jumped out to a 3-1 lead through four and a half innings, thanks in large part to the bat of Ashley Downing. The cleanup hitter drove in a run in each of her four at bats.

Downing's sacrifice fly in the first scored Krysten Davis, who had reached on an error to start the game.

"We made some mistakes," Harper said. "We had some errors that led to runs for Quitman, but I'm proud of our effort."

The 1-0 lead didn't last long as the Lady Trojans knotted it up in the bottom of the frame. Kandance Knight singled past a diving Shannon Mosley and moved to second when Thara Hall was intentionally walked. Knight came home one batter later when Lauren Zettler singled.

NEL had a chance to take the lead in the third. With Knight on second Jennifer Hembree send a ball to center, but the Knight was tagged out at the plate on a throw from Sarah Beth Neely.

Quitman went back on top in the next inning. Tori Dew led off, sending a ball to left field. The ball was booted by Kaley Hull and Dew ended up on second. Downing's double that rolled to the fence brought her teammate home.

The Lady Panthers tacked on one more in the fifth after Downing sent a bases-loaded single to left, giving QHS a 3-1 lead.

The Northeast girls put on their rally caps and scored the next six runs of the game. With two outs in the fifth and two runners in scoring position, Hall tied the game on a single.

The next time the Lady Trojans came to the plate, they produced their biggest inning. They put up four runs on five hits, a pair of walks and an error — all coming with two outs.

Four straight singles scored the first three runs. Two came off the bat of Hull, while Mallory Pace drove in the other. After a walk put runners on first and second, Hall sent a shot into left center. Pace came around from second and slid in just beating the tag.

Down to their last three outs, the Lady Panthers still had some fight left. Davis and Stormy Lewis both singled to start the seventh, and each moved up a base on Dew's groundout. A sacrifice fly by Downing plated Davis, leaving QHS down by three.

The next batter, Relanda McFarland, reached on an infield single, putting runners at the corners for Mosley. Her fly ball to left center was dropped by Knight allowing Lewis to score easily.

Quitman was unable to keep the rally going as Rachael Johnson grounded to short to end the game.

The win puts Northeast in a tie with QHS atop the Division 4-4A standings, although Quitman does hold the tiebreaker.

"This was a big win," Harper said. "But we're still not out of the woods yet."

NEL travels to West Lauderdale Thursday, while Quitman hosts West Jones.