East softball headed back to district
Thunderhawks break tie in eighth inning, will play for third district title in four years
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
FAIRFIELD — Alexa Thompson saw the pitch heading outside — right in her wheelhouse.
Seconds later, Lakota East's softball team punched its ticket to the Division I district finals.
Extras
The junior third baseman drilled a two-out, 1-0 pitch into the left-center field gap, chasing home Kristen Shearer all the way from first base to deliver the No. 5 Thunderhawks a 2-1 sectional championship Tuesday, May 20, at Fairfield Middle School.
"I knew I had a couple rough at-bats in the beginning," said Thompson, who was 0-for-3 prior to her game-winning hit. "I knew (Lauren Collier) was going to give me something because I knew she wanted me to swing and they wanted to get that last out.
"I saw it come in, I saw that it was an outside pitch and I like those outside pitches. It felt real good coming off that bat."
And East is feeling giddy about heading back to the district finals, where it captured district titles in 2005 and 2006 before falling short a year ago.
The Thunderhawks (20-7) advance to face Glen Este (21-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 24, at Fairfield.
"It feels great," East coach Steve Castner said. "We expect to be playing our best ball at this time, and I think we are. The team that beats us has got to be playing their best ball."
Kings (12-13) scored in the sixth on Theresa Manne's two-out, run-scoring hit to grab a 1-0 lead, but Collier walked Allison Mills to lead off the bottom half. Shearer then laced an opposite-field double to left to plate courtesy runner Lauren Barker and knot it at 1-1.
After Collier retired the first two batters in the eighth with ease, Shearer came through with a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch. Two pitches later, Thompson delivered the walk-off victory.
"It was nice to see two solid hits in a row," Castner said. "(Thompson) was right there. That was a rip. And I was sending her no matter what."
