Lady Knights fall to Magnolia

The Lady Knight varsity softball team of Tyler Consolidated finished the 2010 season, disappointed they were not able to advance to Regional and State play, due to their defeat by Magnolia in the Region I, Section I play-offs last week.

The two teams faced off at Magnolia in a double-header on Friday in New Martinsville in the best-of-three tournament.

The Lady Knights went with experience in the circle, throwing junior Heather Suter in the first game and relieving her about two innings in with Torrye Cline in the first loss of the evening, 11-0.

“We needed to play errorless ball and we needed to hit,” said Lady Knight head coach, Charlene Galluzzo. “Magnolia’s a very good team, we knew that going in, and they hit the ball extremely well, we had our work cut out for us from the get-go.”

Offensively, Sami Jones went one of two at bats in the game with a triple and Emily Moore singled.

“We knocked on the door twice in the first two innings,” said the coach. “But we just couldn’t score.”

The second game of the day went about the same as the first with the Silver Ladies taking the loss again by the same score, 11-0.

The team finished the season with a 7-20 win-loss record.

“I’m very proud of the kids,” Galluzzo said. “They’re a fairly young group and it’s been a season of growing pains for us, but they’ve never quit. We haven’t exactly played the easiest schedule, but they go out every game and battle, and as a coach, I appreciate that. A lot of times it would have been easy for them to just give up, but they didn’t do that.”

“We’ve had some pitching ails as well as problems in the batters box, but we’ve also had four kids batting 300 this year. We just haven’t been able to put together enough hits to produce RBI’s to get the wins.”

Consolidated will be losing three seniors to graduation, including exchange student Maria Ayala: third baseman, Christy Jones and Stephana Wilcox (DP). “I feel bad for the seniors who’ve put it all out there on the line for us,” Galluzzo said. “They’ve been good leaders and an important part of who we are as a team.”

Galluzzo is hoping members of her team will use the off season to prepare for next year. “We can’t expect to work on our game three months out of the year and be competitive,” she said. “We have to be committed enough to go the extra mile, do the extra things it takes to put us ahead in the game. I’m hoping we have kids committed enough to do this.”

Plans are in the making for a summer league softball team which Galluzzo hopes members of her team take advantage of. “I really hate to intrude on their summer vacations, but to be competitive at this level we have to be willing to put in as much work as the other teams at this level do. We either are ready to compete or just show up.”

“Hopefully our players are going to want to compete.”

‘Cats beat Valley – lose section

The Paden City Lady Wildcats had an excellent start to their Sectional tournament, defeating the Valley Lumber Jills 10-0, but fell to eventual champions, Cameron to end their post-season play.

In the first game of the tournament on Thursday, the Green and White played error free ball in taking the win over Valley with Ace Amber Palmer working the circle. Palmer walked eight and struck out four in the effort.

At the plate, Palmer single for an RBI; Courtney Conaway singled twice for three RBI’s; Stephanie West singled; Amanda Tallman doubled for one RBI; Katie Kline doubled to plate a runner and Ashley Efaw doubled.

“The girls were really up for this game,” said head coach Penny Baker. “It was good to see them so excited and wanting to play and wanting to win. I just wish we could have carried this excitement on to the next two games.”

Valley went on to be eliminated by Cameron in the second game on Thursday.

Paden City hosted the Lady Dragons of Cameron on Friday in a double header/Sectional championship.

“Cameron is good,” the coach said. “We held our own for a little while, but they just hit the ball on us and scored more runs than we did.”

Kelsey Loy handled the pitching duties in the first game, striking out seven batters and walking four in the 9-1 loss. The only hit by Paden City came off the bat of catcher Dominique Craft who doubled.

In game two the Lady ‘Cats were not able to plate a single runner, taking the loss 11-0.

Loy started as the pitcher, walking three and striking out one. Palmer came on in relief, also walking three and striking out one.

Sabrina Midcap singled offensively.

Paden City ends the year with a 7-20 record.

“I was hoping we could have won at least half of our games, but I guess that just wasn’t meant to be,” Baker said.

“We’ve got some really good kids, and I just hate for the season to end on a downer like this,” the coach said. “We’re losing four seniors, Amanda Tallman, Amber Palmer, Courtney Conaway and Stephanie West, who’ve been such a big part of our team. They’re all going to be hard to replace, but that’s the way it is. I hope they know how much we appreciate what they’ve meant to our team.”

Like every other coach at the end of the season, Baker is hoping the members of her team make the time to work on their skills in the off season. “We have 10 coming back plus any incoming freshmen that join the team,” she said. “We can’t just work on our game in March, April and May and expect to be competitive. I’m hoping pitchers will keep their arms in shape, and the rest of them will just work on their game. They have to if we’re going to win games next year.”