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CommunitySoftball teams ready for postseason
La Plata picks up third seed in 3A South; Stone is second seed in 4A East
Friday, May 9, 2008
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When asked his goals at the beginning of eachÊseason, Huntingtown softball coach Mike Johnson has said the same thing for the last nine years: Win our last game. While Huntingtown has done exactly that the past three years by winning the 3A state title, there are 14 other coaches with that same goal in mind when the softball playoffs got underway yesterday.
In the 2A South region, the McDonough Rams collected the fourth seed and will host 13th-seeded River Hill in an opening round game.
In the 3A South region, Lackey (6-10), which earned the ninth seed, will begin that portion of the bracket with an in-county battle at Westlake, who collected the eighth seed.
Chargers coach Dawn Cowger said it’s clear what her team must do in order to advance.
‘‘We have to hit the ball,” said Cowger, whose Chargers defeated Westlake 4-2 earlier this season. ‘‘That’s been our downfall so we’ve had to rely on our defense. We have a good defense, it’s our offense that’s struggling.”
Lackey’s biggest offensive output this season was a six-run effort in a win over McDonough.
‘‘It’s pretty frustrating because they hit the ball in practice but then come game time, I don’t know if there’s different movement on the ball or what, but they struggle at the plate.”Ê
The winner of that game, which was trying to be scheduled for Thursday due to impending weather, will have the unenviable task of facing Huntingtown, the top-seeded team in the region.
La Plata picked up the third seed in the region and thus will host sixth-seeded Chopticon in the second round. Both teams have first round byes.
In the 4A East region, Thomas Stone (15-2) is the second seed and received a first round bye. The Cougars will host the winner of the Glen Burnie-South River matchup in the second round.
‘‘We need to cut down on our errors like we made today [against Huntingtown],” Stone first-year coach Dave Reilly said ‘‘We made too many mistakes and it’s not very characteristic of us to make those kinds of mistakes.”
‘‘We need to play as a team,” said Stone leadoff batter Kayla Voorhees. ‘‘Defense let us down a little [against Huntingtown], so we’re going to have to work on that in practice.”
Leonardtown is the fifth seed and will visit Arundel in the quarterfinals after each team received a first round bye.
‘‘Three things: Pitching, hitting and defense,” said Leonardtown coach Glenn Larnerd, Jr., when asked what the Raiders need to do. ‘‘We need to limit our errors and take advantage of their errors and we should be all right. When they say, ‘Play ball,’ we’ll see what happens. It should be interesting.”Ê
