When the Lee-Davis softball team traveled to Prince George for the Central Region championship game last Friday, they knew they were returning to the site of their only loss of the season.

  The second trip to the Royals (22-2) field brought no better result as the Confederates (23-2) fell 2-0 to the region defending champion.

  The Confederates were designated the home team but could not take advantage of that edge when they got off to a flat start. Prince George took immediate advantage of the lapse loading bases before the first out was recorded.

  Central Region Pitcher of the year, Kelly Heinz was not on top of her game in the top of the first, walking Royals’ lead-off hitter Taylor Worley then getting burned by a soft lob over her head from Jami Davis. Heinz then walked opposing pitcher Lauren Vinson, loading the bases and bringing a very early visit to the mound by C-fed coach Jackie Davis.

  Heinz bounced back to strike out the next two Prince George batters but a single over first by Maggie Roberts allowed Worley to score for a 1-0 lead.

  But with the ball still in play the Royals’ aggressiveness back-fired. Davis turned third with the intention of adding to the score but found the ball coming in to the Lee-Davis catcher Haleigh Cottrell. The Prince George runner then turned back to third but found Vinson already closing on the bag, which left no choice but to head home. Cottrell made the tag at the plate allowing the C-feds to escape the top of the first with no more damage.

  “It was evident we came out flat to begin with and they came out ready to play,” said Lee-Davis first baseman Meredith Holmes. “They were hyped. They were ready to go and they knew it was a big game. They scored from the get-go and we lost it there. That was when it really ended.

  “Some innings we’re getting a couple of runners on but we needed to play a full seven innings and I don’t feel like we did that tonight,” Holmes added.
  Neither pitcher allowed a runner on base until the bottom of the second when it appeared Lee-Davis may tie the game.

  With two out, L-D’s Casey Price reached on a bad toss to Davis at first.

  Next up, Heinz lofted a shot into short right for a single allowing Price to reach third. But the charge was stopped when Vinson got Rachel Houff to ground out to first.

  Holding a 1-0 edge, the Royals added an insurance run in the top of the fourth when Sydney Landreth led off with a triple-shot to left that fell inside the line and just out of the reach of a diving Price. Landreth then came home when Roberts ground out to first.

  “Had they not been able to score that run, it might have been a difference too, now looking at being down 2-0 as opposed to being down 1-0,” Davis said.

  Prince George threatened to add to their lead in the top of the sixth when Vinson led off with a single up the middle. A double to the right field fence by Landreth put two Royal runners in scoring position with no outs.

  But Heinz struck out Christopher then pulled in a Roberts pop-up bunt and made the throw to third to complete a double-play.

  However, the Lee-Davis bats continued to be neutralized through the remainder of the game and Prince George took the win.

  Time and again, the rising fastball proved to be Lee-Davis’ undoing as batter after batter chased the high pitches from Vinson.

  “I don’t know what it is when we get around her,” Holmes said. “We get nervous and we don’t know how to lay off that rise ball. It’s something we’ve got to work on. We worked on it all season but it seems like whenever it comes back to her it just goes out of the head.”

  According to Coach Davis, Vinson’s talent kept her batters off-balance. “She mixes it up so much and she hits her spots very well,” Davis said. “She locates the ball nicely. She keeps you off balance. You never know what’s coming at you. I told them tonight, ‘you guys have got to go up there and nine times out of ten the first pitch is going to be a strike and that’s the one that you want because that’s probably going to be the best one that you see.’”

  It wasn’t until the third inning before Lee-Davis began swinging at the first pitch. “They just need be able to take those adjustments and make them sooner,” Davis said.

  Vinson finished the contest with 11 K’s, no walks and having not surrendered a single run in the Central Region tournament.

  “I’m surprised that they were able to hold everybody scoreless, especially us,” Holmes said. “I thought we could come out and do a lot better than we did.”
  Heinz recorded 13 strikeouts while giving up three walks.

  Both pitchers allowed five hits.

  Both teams advance to the state tournament. The Royals will play at home Tuesday against Eastern Region runner-up Ocean Lakes while Lee-Davis travels to Eastern Region champ Hickory.

  Though disappointed with the loss, Holmes hopes she and her teammates can turn that to their advantage. “I’m kind of upset now about the loss but I think we all need to take this feeling and learn from it and know that we don’t want to feel it again and use that to move forward and give us momentum going into the state tournament,” she said. 

  Davis agreed. “We took the field in the first inning and I don’t think we were ready to play,” she said. “So lesson learned, we need to learn that we’re ready to play inning-one through inning-seven.

  “We’ll go down there, ready to play and try to get a win under our belt in the sate tournament,” Davis said.

  Davis was named Central Region Coach of the Year while Heinz earned Pitcher of the Year honors. Holmes and center fielder Charyssa Parent also made the first team. Senior Amanda Parker was a second team selection.
 
Prince George ..... 100 100 0—2 5 0
Lee-Davis…......... 000 000 0—0 5 0
Vinson and Landreth; Heinz and Cottrell