Lady Pounders stay alive with 1-0 win

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Gloves lie in a pile in the Lady Trojan Invitational softball tournament Friday, March 29, 2013, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.
Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Gloves lie in a pile in the Lady Trojan Invitational softball tournament Friday, March 29, 2013, in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.

More times than not this high school softball season, when Central has scored it has won. Although that didn't happen in its Class AA state-tournament opener Tuesday, it was the case in Wednesday's losers-bracket game at Starplex No 2.

Amanda Roy gave the Lady Purple Pounders the lead, and pitcher Brooke Parrott made it stand for a 1-0 win over Dyersburg.

Central (29-10) will play Greenbrier today at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Should the Lady Purple Pounders win, they would play again at Starplex No. 2 at 5.

Central's run came in the fourth inning, which started with a single by catcher Kerri Sylvester followed by a sacrifice bunt. Central coach LeeAnne Shurette gave courtesy runner Gracee Webb credit for reading the next play, which was a grounder to the shortstop that turned out to be an out, but Webb also advanced to third on the play. From there she scored on Roy's single up the middle.

"I just was thinking, 'I want to do this for my team,'" Roy said. "Anything for my team. And with the best pitcher in the tournament, Brooke Parrott, out there, we felt good about it. It's big to just get one run across the board for her, and then we do our defense behind her."

Unlike in the first-game loss, the defense did not commit an error behind Parrott as she threw her sixth one-hitter of the season to go with nine no-hitters. She did not issue a walk and had 10 strikeouts.

"If anything, the ones that made mistakes yesterday stood up and took responsibility," Shurette said.

The Lady Pounders managed seven hits, getting 2-for-3 performances from Sylvester and Cassidy Simms. Janara Smith had a double in the second.

"I felt like we hit better today, and not just the hits," Shurette said. "They made some good plays on us, too."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.

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