NEA ladies rout Rams

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 17, 2008

LASKER – Northeast Academy’s softball team picked up their first win of the season Friday after dominating Northampton County High School-East.

The 25-2 victory for the Lady Eagles came just one day after they fell to conference foe Ridgecroft School, 13-3.

The Lady Rams scored first as seniors Megan Ard and Alicia Piland crossed home plate in the first inning. Christina Pair and Tilwand Pugh were left in scoring position when Northeast pitcher Kelly Sykes struck out the batter for the final out.

Northeast wasted no time as the top four batters in the lineup, sophomores Sykes, Christie Glover and Jennifer Sykes, and junior LeAnn Barnes scored. With two outs Kathryn Bryant, Lori Coggins and Meghan Bridgers rounded the bases for a 7-2 Northeast advantage.

East squandered several scoring opportunities, leaving runners on base in the next two innings. Northeast meanwhile did all they could to bring runners home, scoring seven and in the second and 11 in the third.

East was unable to get any offense going as only three batters faced Northeast in each of the final two innings.

Kelly Sykes pitched the win for Northeast with Glover coming in as relief.

“We made a lot of mental errors,” said East’s first year coach Alli Heckler.

“We have a young team with a lot of girls playing for the first time.

Northeast coach Joella Brown is also working with a young team as her roster boasts only one senior. “We’re still learning how to play together and play different positions.”

It was a different story for Northeast on Thursday when they hosted Ridgecroft.

Emily Cooke, Mary Myers and Tayler Smith scored in the top of the first for a quick 3-0 lead. Ridgecroft added a run in the second and two more in the third while the Lady Eagles bats went cold.

Northeast got three runs in the third after hits by Barnes, Glover and J. Sykes but they were held scoreless in the final three innings.

Ridgecroft added six runs in the sixth inning and topped it off with one more run in the seventh to win, 13-3.

Mary-Kate Morris pitched seven innings for Ridgecroft, striking out nine batters.