By Justin Albers, For Pendleton News
May 24, 2009 07:46 pm
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PENDLETON — Pendleton Heights softball coach Scott Hall sat in the press box at Legends Field after a loss to Martinsville on May 15. He was stunned and disheartened at what he had seen on the field that night.
His Lady Arabians had just blown a 1-0 lead in the late innings and fell 3-1 in that contest. Hall wondered if maybe things were slipping away from his young team.
Boy, how things can change in a week.
PH responded from that loss with four emphatic wins to close the regular season last week and entered sectional competition the way it usually does. Victories over Decatur Central, Fishers, Yorktown and Rushville sent the Lady Arabians into Monday night’s contest with Connersville as hot as they’ve been all season.
The win over Fishers last Wednesday was particularly encouraging as it came against a good team in extra innings. The Lady Arabians pulled that one out 5-4 in nine frames.
“We’ve just been trying to build momentum,” Hall said. “As long as we go into sectional with a little confidence, we’ve got a chance.”
Senior outfielder Halee Myers had one of her best weeks at the plate for the Lady Arabians by cashing in for nine hits. Myers, a part of the senior class that has won 101 games in its four years, said she and her teammates are ready to surprise in the postseason.
“Some people were starting to doubt us and this was the perfect time to pick things up,” Myers said. “We want to catch some people by surprise. It’s a whole different ballgame ... we can do whatever we set our minds to. All we have to do is go out there and execute and play how we know how to play.”
Winning sectional will be an even more difficult task for PH this year because of the emergence of Anderson Highland. Highland, the 12th-ranked team in Class 4A, let the Madison County title slip away against the Lady Arabians just over a month ago.
Hall wasn’t thinking ahead to the second-round matchup.
“We haven’t even thought about Highland,” he said.
The PH baseball team will play the third game of its sectional on Friday against Richmond.
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