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Chelsea Leonard and the Central Davidson Spartans crashed the festivities to earn a 4-0 win over the Lady Golden Eagles, improving its overall record to 9-0, 3-0 in the CCC. East falls to 2-2 (1-1).
The Golden Eagles had their share of chances to at least end Leonard’s streak of scoreless innings dating back to early last season, but Leonard or the Spartan defense always found a way out.
“I was really proud of the way we played tonight,” said East coach Greg Fowler. “We got runners on base, we battled at the plate — we just couldn’t seem to get the key hit and it seems they got the two-out hit. We went down fighting and that is what I am proud of.”
Central scratched for a run in the first off East pitcher Spencer Embler, to give Leonard what is normally an insurmountable lead, but the Golden Eagles nearly got it back.
Senior Nicole Welborn surprised everyone by greeting the powerful righty with a laser past third baseman Erin Cole for a single.
“Nicole has seen Chelsea for three years now, so this is something they haven’t seen,” said Central coach Gene Poindexter. “We expected them to come out and put the ball in play.”
Brittney Smith then executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move her to second, and a throwing error allowed Welborn to reach third and Smith to move up 60 more feet a pitch later on a steal. That would be as far as they went, with Leonard striking out three straight batters to get out of the jam.
Central struck for an important second run in the second inning with Alison Barnak doubling with two outs and later coming home on Kara Lohr’s RBI single up the middle.
Unfazed by the extra run, East mounted another scoring chance in the bottom half. Kristin White slapped a one-out double to the gap in right, and courtesy runner Paige Byrd came on to run. Leonard then mowed down Lauren Wagner, but catcher Gina Antonucci’s throw to first on the dropped third strike was in the dirt, and all runners were safe on the corners.
Stepping in was Elizabeth Merritt, who laid down a swinging bunt just in front of the plate. Antonucci scooped up the ball and turned towards first, but saw that Byrd was wondering too far off third and gunned a strike to Cole. Byrd was tagged out on the play and Leonard struck out Welborn to escape another tough situation.
“She [Leonard] wasn’t real sharp, but she settled down and pitched well in tough situations,” said Poindexter.
Central added two more in the fifth to break the game open, but East took one more crack at crossing the plate in the seventh.
White coaxed a walk and courtesy runner Alyssa Cutshaw took second on a rare wild pitch from Leonard. She moved up 60 more feet on another wild pitch to stand on third with two outs. Leonard unbelievably chucked another wild pitch to the backstop and Cutshaw made her move to the plate. Antonucci reached the ball and tossed it to Leonard, who applied the tag on Cutshaw to end the game.
“We had some good at-bats tonight and fought to the end, but it is so hard because she is such a great pitcher,” said Fowler.
Leonard finished with 19 strikeouts and surrendered just the two hits. Antonucci lead all hitters with a 3-for-4 effort.