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For the third time in three meetings between these two county rivals the outcome was decided by a single run, and for the third time the Ledford Lady Panthers came out on top. Freshman Kristen Murphy shut down the Lady Golden Eagles in the Central Carolina Conference tournament semifinals with a masterful 1-0 shutout, striking out 10 while allowing just three hits, none of which came until Anna Freeman’s single in the fifth inning.
“My rise ball was working a lot better and my knuckleball was pretty good,” Murphy said. “It feels really good. It is such a rush. I don’t how to explain it.”
Offense wasn’t to be expected in Tuesday’s trilogy as the two clubs combined for a total of six runs in the two regular-season meetings, but someone would have to break through eventually. That someone turned out to be Ledford’s senior captain shortstop Brittany Teer.
With one out in the third inning, Olivia Poplin doubled off Golden Eagle starter Kristen White. Two batters later, Teer slapped a shot down the right-field line, plating Poplin for the game’s first and only run.
“She [Teer] stayed with the pitch down the right-field line,” said Ledford coach Charlie Brown. “That was a great piece of hitting.”
Teer’s RBI single was the lone clutch hit for Ledford as the Lady Panthers stranded a whopping 10 runners on base in six trips to the plate, including leaving the bases loaded in the sixth inning. LHS left two on the first and failed to do anything with runners on first and second and only one out in the second and fourth innings. The Lady Panthers belted 10 hits in all, led by Shelby Bowser’s three knocks and Poplin’s two doubles, but their failure to stretch out their lead kept the Lady Eagles in the game until the final out.
“Nothing is ever easy with East Davidson,” Brown said. “When you have two county rivals playing each other it’s never easy and that’s what I attribute that to. We hit the ball well, we just didn’t have somebody really step up and drive people in until our shortstop got the big hit.”
East, while not as plentiful as its counterpart, had its chances as well. Once Freeman got the Lady Eagles on the scoreboard with a fifth-inning single, White doubled to left, putting two runners in scoring position with one out. Murphy, however, quenched the fire, getting Brittany Smith to hit one back to the mound before striking out Addie Chaney.
“Murphy pitched a great game,” East coach Greg Fowler said. “It’s tough losing three one-run games to them. A hit here or a hit there and something different happens. You have to give them all the credit. They made the plays when they needed to.”
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.