Some people consider softball to be a game of perfection. One simple mistake can be the difference between a win and a loss. At no time was that more evident than when the Lee-Davis softball team traveled to Hanover on Friday night.

  In the battle between the Capital District’s top two teams, a single Hanover error in the second-inning was the ultimate game-changer, leading to a 6-1 Confederates’ win.

  The Hawks came into the home contest trailing Lee-Davis by a half game in the district standings and from the beginning the contest looked as if it was going to be a close battle throughout.  Between both teams, one batter reached base in the first inning.

  But the top of the second proved pivotal. Hanover pitcher Auguste Rohle, who was a C-fed killer last season, began to show chinks in her armor due to still not being fully recovered from injury.

  It did not help that Rohle was facing a potent C-fed offense. Lee-Davis’ Meredith Holmes led off the inning with a single up the middle.

  Next up, Taylor Melton sent a half-swing shot towards short. The Hawks’ Marybeth Sciolino scooped up the ball and fired towards second where it appeared both the ball and Holmes reached the bag at the same time. The umpire ruled in favor of the Lee-Davis runner.

  Rohle bounced back to get the next two C-fed batters to fly out but a single up the middle by Rachel Houff loaded the bases for the Confederates.

  Next up, Lee-Davis freshman, Haleigh Cottrell, changed the game with a short shot to right. When Hanover’s Brooke Throckmorton raced in to field it on a bounce, the ball caromed past her and to the right field fence.

  As soon as the ball touched down the Lee-Davis runners were off. In came Holmes followed by Melton then by Houff.

  Because she had not seen where the ball went after she made contact, Cottrell was surprised when C-feds coach Jackie Davis signaled her to keep rounding the bases. “I didn’t think she was going to send me home,” Cottrell said. “I didn’t know where the ball was. I was just listening to her (Davis). I was like, ‘All right, if I’m out it’s your fault.’”

  The Lee-Davis freshman reached home safely on a play that went in the books as a hit, an error and four runs scored.

  “That was key for us, getting that ball down, it getting by her and us getting all the runs in,” Davis said. “That just helps out when you jump on a team like that with four runs.”

  Davis said the play clearly put the momentum behind the C-feds. “It just gives us a little more confidence and I think it deflated them a little bit.”

  With the lead, Lee-Davis pitcher Kelly Heinz stepped up the attack from the mound. 

  “They can pitch a little more aggressively when they have that run lead,” Davis said of Heinz. “They’re not having to pitch so tight and not give up a mistake.”

  Heinz, who finished the game with eight strike-outs while giving up three hits, took out the Hawks’ order in the bottom of the inning and the C-feds added two more runs in the top of the third.

  After Lacie Madison and Holmes reached base on singles, Hanover head coach Chris Pace made the call to replace injured pitcher Rohle, with Shannon Albright, who had recently also suffered from an injury and saw limited duty. “The inning she got tonight, that’s about as much as she can go right now,” Pace said.

  Lee-Davis’ Melton took an Albright pitch up the middle of the field, driving in Madison and Holmes for a 6-0 C-fed lead.

  Hanover finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth after Shawna Kirby blistered a double to the left center fence.

  Kirby took third on a wild pitch then scored on a Julie Palmer RBI single to create the final margin.

  With the dark cloud of pitching ailments that the Hawks have suffered this season, Erica Barrett brought a ray of sunshine when she stepped to the mound in the top of the sixth.

  Over two innings of relief work, Barrett shut down the C-fed bats, carding four strikeouts while not giving up a hit. “She looked very good,” Pace said.

  As important as Cottrell’s offensive play was for Lee-Davis, she was equally as big behind the plate. The freshman catcher made two outstanding catches at the fence to retire Hanover batters. Most impressive was a play in the bottom of the fifth when the home plate umpire lost track of a ball fouled back. Cottrell showed no qualms about shoving aside the man more than twice her size to reach the ball for an out. “It didn’t really help, but I got him to move,” Cottrell said.

  After suffering a close loss to the C-feds earlier in the season, Pace feels Lee-Davis is a different team as the post season draws near. “They’ve improved a ton offensively,” Pace said. “From the first game, we handled their bats. We made some defensive mistakes that cost us that game. We made a big error in tonight’s game but there were three runners on base when that error was made.

  “Between the two meetings, they’ve gotten better,” Pace said. “They’ve turned into a lean, mean, softball machine. They’re thinking about the region, we’re thinking about scrapping our way into it.”

  Likewise, Pace feels that in comparison the Hawks have been spinning their wheels and the greatest detriment to their cause has been a seemingly unending string of injuries. “We just haven’t been able to build momentum because we continue to be dinged up,” Pace said. “Juggling a lineup with a young team is just not a recipe for success.”

  With the win, Lee-Davis locks up the No. 1 seed for the Capital District tournament and is virtually guaranteed to take the outright regular season title when they play Henrico and winless Highland Springs next week needing only a single win.

  The No. 2 seed was determined in a matchup between Atlee and Hanover on Tuesday night.

Lee-Davis…......... 042 000 0—6 7 0
Hanover….............000 010 0—1 3 2
Heinz and Cottrell; Rohle, Albright (3), Barrett (6) and Smith. L: Rohle.
Highlights: Meredith Holmes (L-D) 2 for 4, 2 runs; Casey Price (L-D) 1 for 3, 2 RBI; Shawna Kirby (H) 1 for 2, 2B, run
Records: Lee-Davis 8-0 Capital, 15-1; Hanover 5-2, 8-8