After losing to Prince George in the Central Region Championship, Lee-Davis head softball coach Jackie Davis challenged her team to focus themselves.

Playing against James Madison in the Group AAA state semifinals at Westfield High School, the Confederates’ focus was evident. They jumped out to a 2-0 in the top of the first then rode a perfect game from sophomore pitcher Kelly Heinz to a 3-0 over the Warhawks.

“We’ve been working on staying as focused as possible all season,” Heinz said. “That was one of our biggest downfalls all season.”

“We talked about Prince George being a lesson learned and we had to be ready to play when we stepped onto the field and we couldn’t have any let downs,” Davis said. “I think that’s what happened today.”

C-fed lead-off hitter Charyssa Parent battled from the start, fouling off strikes and taking Madison hurler Sam Brady to eight pitches before picking up a walk.

Next up, Lacie Madison laid down a perfect bunt that caught the Warhawks flat-footed to put two on.

Both runners advanced on a Brady wild pitch and Parent scored on another wild pitch.
Madison then came home on a groundout to short by Meredith Holmes for a 2-0 Lee-Davis lead.

“Madison looked like they still had some of the jitters in them,” Davis said. “They hadn’t quite settled into game yet and we jumped on them right away, put the ball into play and were able to make some things happen in the first inning.”

With the early lead, Heinz was able to go to work in the circle, picking up three of her game high 11 strikeouts in the bottom of the first.

Warhawks’ head coach John Schneeberger felt Heinz brought a new level of pitching to his team. “She’s awesome,” he said. “The best pitching we’ve seen. I’ll leave it at that. We couldn’t hit her. That’s the problem.”

Making through the Warhawk lineup once without yielding a hit, Heinz knew the second go round would be more challenging.

“You can kind of tell that they’re going to bunt or slap or you know what they made contact with and what they didn’t,” she said. “I know after I got through once I got to move the ball around a little more because it’s always easier to hit the ball the second time around.”

But even when the Madison batters made contact, the C-fed defense was there as a backup.

In the bottom of the fourth it appeared that Stephanie Buchko would drop a perfect shot deep along the right field line, but Lee-Davis’ Rachel Houff raced in to make a leaping grab and preserve the no-hitter.

Lee-Davis tacked on an insurance run in the top of the fifth when freshman Haleigh Cottrell reached on a bunt, then stole second. A shot to third base by Parent was bobbled on the throw to first and Cottrell trotted home for a 3-0 lead.

After six perfect innings in the circle, Heinz said tried to keep from thinking about the possible accomplishment ahead. “It popped through my head once or twice but I was like; ‘I can’t worry about this. I can’t focus on this. I need to focus on throwing and work hard.’
The Warhawks came closest to ending Heinz perfect game in the bottom of the seventh when Emily Fogel led off with a hard shot to third. Lacie Madison scooped up the grounder, fired to first and Holmes pulled in the ball seconds before Fogel’s foot touched the bag.

Lee-Davis advances to the state championship game with a team that has only one senior, Amanda Parker, on the roster.

But Davis told her squad that the time was ripe for them to claim the school’s first state title. “I know that we’re a young team and we’ve only got one senior but you guys need to take advantage of it while it’s here,” she said. “This opportunity may or may not come again. You never know what’s going to happen.

“If you come out and play Lee-Davis softball and you play intense, you go out and play with confidence, you play pitch-by-pitch innings one-through-seven, we can beat anybody.”

After throwing her perfect game, Heinz agreed. “We have a young team and it just proves that anybody and do anything at any time,” she said. “If we work together than it always pays off.”

Lee-Davis…… 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 3 4 0
Madison……..  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 2
LD: Heinz and Cottrell; JM: Brady and Wollf