MOCKSVILLE — A young West Rowan team placed itself on the softball map in 2001
when it upset a Davie County squad that finished 20-2 and reached the 4A state
playoff quarterfinals.
The sophomore-driven Falcons (3-0) showed on
Thursday afternoon they’re here to stay. They beat Davie 2-1 in the much
anticipated rematch at sun-splashed Rich Park.
“We knew Davie would kind of be out to get
us,” said West right fielder Emily Wallace. “We knew if we’re going to go
anywhere this year we had to prove we could beat them again. That’s what Coach
(Vanessa Noe) talked about — proving it.”
Proving it took some serious doing.
Davie, led by lefty hummer Layne Grout, led 1-0
most of the way before the Falcons rallied with bunts and wheels in the sixth.
West’s star was freshman Devon Williams, who
was in middle school when last year’s epic battle took place. Williams may
have accomplished a statistical first. She got the win, got the save and scored
the winning run.
The Falcon defense, anchored by shortstop Lyndsey
Gay, was the other hero. Davie smacked the ball much harder, but West gobbled up
everything in an error-free outing.
Most of the day was pure frustration for West.
Falcon hitters struggled to put Grout’s heat in play and were baffled by her
changeup.
“That pitcher was really, really good,” said
Gay. “Batting left-handed, it was hard to bunt her.”
West loaded the bases in the first with no outs,
but failed to score.
It loaded them in the fifth and again came up
empty.
But just when it looked as if the War Eagles’
second-inning run on Grout’s booming double and Amanda Sink’s line single
would stand up, West stirred to life.
Jac White started the sixth with a ground single
to left. Williams followed with a perfect bunt and runners were safe at second
and third after an errant throw.
One out later, Stephanie Athey bunted in front of
the plate and White broke for home when the throw went to first. White narrowly
beat the return throw, sliding around catcher Brandy Sain to tie the game at
1-all.
Then Wallace dropped a well-placed bunt and
Williams galloped home from third with the tiebreaker.
“The girls never got their heads down,” said
Noe. “Every inning they would come in and say, ‘We’re gonna score, we’re
gonna score.’ I’m proud of them. They do whatever it takes.”
The drama wasn’t over yet.
Williams started on the mound and pitched well,
but was tiring by the last of the sixth. With Grout, who had hit shots off
Williams in her previous two at-bats, coming up, Noe replaced Williams with
all-county senior Alicia Wilson.
Wilson retired Grout on a liner to Wallace to end
the sixth, then easily retired the first two batters in the seventh. But that
final out was tough to nail down. Wilson walked two straight, prompting Noe to
send Williams back to the hill.
Things worked out — barely.
Davie’s No. 9 batter Brittany Holt slammed a
hard grounder ticketed for right field, but second baseman Athey stabbed it and
flipped to White at first to end the game.
“It was crazy, because I don’t like that much
pressure on me,” smiled Athey. “I guess I got that ball by natural
instinct.”
It all added up to what should be a landmark win
for West. Davie (0-2) has already lost as many times as it did in all of 2001,
but the War Eagles will be heard from.
“It was a challenging day,” said Williams.
“But when you win a game like this, it’s really fun.”
Today's News
