The Lee-Davis softball team added some offense to more stellar pitching from Kelly Heinz and a rock solid defense and played its way into the Virginia High School League Group AAA tournament semifinals for the second year in a row. The Central Region champion Confederates stroked six hits and took advantage of three errors to defeat Halifax County, the Northwest Region runner- up, 3-0 on Tuesday night at Lee-Davis.

The Confederates (24-1) will meet Grassfield (25-2), the Eastern Region runnerup, Friday at 4 p.m. at Westfield High in Chantilly. Grassfield eliminated host Westfield on Tuesday.

“We’ve been waiting all season for this. We’ve been going out every day, improving every day. … We can’t wait,” Lee-Davis first baseman Meredith Holmes said. “We are so ready for this, especially the seniors. We want to go back, do what we did last year and more.”

Heinz pitched a perfect game in last year’s semifinals. Errors cost the Confederates in the championship game won by McLean, which lost to Eastern Region champion Hickory on Tuesday.

Heinz, a junior, struck out 12 Halifax batters and gave up a hit to Kate Bane in the second inning.
Heinz has allowed just two hits in the past four games.

And there’s the defense.

“We’re lights out right now on defense,” Lee-Davis coach Jackie Davis said. “As long as we play good defense behind Kelly, she’s not going to give up enough hits in a row to hurt us.”

Holmes’ single to left in the fourth inning drove in pinch-runner Kinsee Stonebraker with the Confederates’ first run. Stonebraker was running for Heinz, who reached base on an error by the shortstop.

Casey Price moved Stonebraker to second on a groundout and when the left fielder couldn’t corral Holmes’ hit, Stonebraker scored.

Lee-Davis added two runs in the fifth after leadoff batter Taylor Melton was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt by Lacie Madison and an out, Melton moved to third on a passed ball with Charyssa Parent at the plate. Parent then stroked an RBI single to right center. Singles by
Heinz and Price loaded the bases, and Parent scored on a passed ball.

“We were on it from the beginning. Once things started going, they kept on going. We kept our confidence up. We were showing it tonight,” Holmes said.

Arthur Utley is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Halifax 000 000 0 — 0 1 3
Lee-Davis 000 120 x — 3 6 0
Gibson and Trickey; Heinz and Cottrell
Records:Halifax County 23-2; Lee- Davis 24-1