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Ledford’s Charlie Brown should find that job a lot easier following Wednesday’s night epic in the Central Carolina Conference tournament final. Brown’s Lady Panthers took Central Davidson, the defending 2-A state champions, to the wire only to fall a run short in a 3-2 loss.
“I am so proud of them,” Brown said. “No other team in the state [CDHS] has done that to them. You are talking about the best team in the state. We have been building for this all year. I knew they had this in them and I think we are peaking at the right time heading into the state playoffs.”
All Ledford (10-3, 17-6) did was something no team has done in over a year — score multiple runs off the Lady Spartan’s Chelsea Leonard, who is widely considered the top softball pitcher in North Carolina. Emily Byrd’s RBI triple with two strikes and two outs in the top of the seventh inning plated Jessica Morgan to tie the score at two, sending a buzz through the crowd that this may be the night the mighty Spartans fall.
“I was so nervous with two strikes,” said Byrd. “I thought [Leonard] would pitch me the rise because that was what I struck out on my last time up. It just came inside and I went with it. It was worth it. This is a big confidence booster for us right before states.”
There is a reason why Central (26-0, 13-0) hasn’t dropped a game this season, and the Lady Spartans showed their valor in their final at-bat. Carrie Jernigan’s bunt single and ensuing steal got the one-out rally started. A wild pitch from LHS starter Kristen Murphy put the winning run just a base away, allowing Jernigan to score on a Carla Owens grounder to short. Brittany Teer fielded the play cleanly and her throw to home appeared to beat the runner, but the ball leaked free from Emily Darr, ending the game.
“We got tested tonight like we have all year long,” Central coach Gene Poindexter said. “We were able to put the ball in play and do some things offensively that were advantageous to us at the end of the game. My hat goes off to Charlie and his girls. They were well prepared and I hope they go far in the playoffs.”
Murphy matched Leonard zero for zero in the scoring column until the Lady Spartans got to the freshman in the third inning. After retiring the first two hitters in the frame, Owens blooped a single to left and promptly stole second base. Leonard legged out an infield single and her pinch-runner took second on a steal, putting Spartans on second and third. While Gina Antonucci didn’t get all of Murphy’s 1-1 offering, she got enough, dropping a base hit to center that second baseman Olivia Poplin nearly made a snow-cone catch on, giving CDHS a 2-0 lead.
“We failed to make the most of our chances in the first inning,” said Brown of the Lady Panthers stranding two runners in the opening stanza. “That really could’ve swung the momentum. I am just proud of our effort and the way we played. The seniors stepped up and our little freshman did a fabulous job keeping us in the game.”
Ledford cut the deficit in half in the fifth when the Lady Panthers scored their first run of the season off Leonard. Morgan walked leading off the inning and came home three batters later when Byrd laced a two-out single to left, making the score 2-1.
The Lady Panthers start the playoffs on Tuesday with a home game against the third seed from the Rocky River Conference.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.