ND Lady Wave

Published 12:00 am Friday, September 14, 2007

The North Delta Lady Green Wave walked through their district opponents, outscoring them 77-4 to go undefeated in the district and take the 1-1A championship. The Panolian photo by Myra Bean

MPSA District 1-1A Champs
North Delta Lady Green Wave Fastpitch Softball 

Lady Green Wave goes undefeated in district  to dominate

By Brad Greer

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Having already wrapped up the District 1-1A title Monday with a 14-1 thrashing of Marvell, Ark.,  the North Delta Lady Green Wave still have some unfinshed business to take care of Tuesday afternoon in their regular-season finale’ against Delta Academy.

The Green Wave wanted to go undefeated through the district slate and head into the North State A playoffs with a full head of steam.

Delta’s starting pitcher Miranda Cuff almost changed those plans as the seventh-grader silenced the Green Wave bats for three innings. But an outstanding relief  pitching performance by Samantha Massoth and a two-run double by senior Lauren Tidwell propelled North Delta to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.

North Delta ends the regular season with perfect 7-0 district record and 15-4 overall.

“We knew that they (Delta) wanted it  (the game) and that made us want it even more. We came out a little slow but we picked it up and came out with the win,” said North Delta head Brooke Turner.

Trailing 3-1 in the third inning, Massoth replaced starting pitcher Melanie Gaters  with one out and runners on second and third. The left-hander proceeded to strike out the next two batters to escape further damage. Massuth garned the win by going 3.2 innings while fanning six and surrendering a pair of hits.

“I  can’t say enough about the job Samantha did today. She always comes in and gets the job done. That is why I put her in there. Lauren came through today, she’s our cleanup hitter and seems to get a big hit when we need it,“ said Turner.

Victoria Johnson led off the bottom of the fourth inning with an infield single then stole second base. Courtney McCullar blooped a single into left to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Tidwell then smashed a 2-0 delivery from Cuff into left field to score Johnson and courtesy runner Julianna Morrow to tie the game 3-3. Gaters followed with a RBI single to chase home Tidwell for the game-winning run.

Delta put the tying run on first with two outs in the sixth innings but Massoth got Amanda Jones to ground out to end the game.

Each team had six hits in the game. North Delta left a pair of runners on base while the Raiders stranded six.

Both teams will now advance to the North State A tournament Sept. 19-22 at Bayou Academy in Cleveland.   The Green Wave is expected to play Deer Creek in the opening round.

North Delta District Game Scores
Date    Opponent    Score
8/13    West Memphis     11-0
8/14    Tunica Institute    15-0
8/21    Marvell    15-0
8/27    Delta    4-0
8/28    West Memphis    15-0
9/4    Tunica Institute    Rained Out
9/10    Marvell    13-1
9/11    Delta    4-3

    1     2      3     4     5     6    R     H   E

Delta     0     0      3     0      0    0   –     3     6     0

No. Delta    1     0       0    3      0    x   –    4     6    2
WP  –  Samantha Massoth     LP  –  Miranda Cuff    Victoria Johnson (2B, 1B);  Lauren Tidwell (2B);  Melanie Gaters (1B);  Courtney McCullar (1B);  Linsey Hebert (1B)