Sandiettes Win Warm-up Game, 2-0

Currie Pitches No-Hitter

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – Grapeland Sandiette ace pitched her second no-hitter in three starts as she faced one batter over the minimum in the Sandiettes’ 2-0 win over the Evadale Lady Rebels.

The game was a warm-up for both teams as they prepare to start the playoffs on Thursday, April 26.

Fast-paced would be an understatement for this game. While Currie allowed no hits, her counterpart in the pitching circle – Evadale’s Savannah Wilson – only gave up four. There was only one walk issued the entire game and only two errors (one by the Sandiettes and one by the Lady Rebels) were made.

As the game got underway, Wilson was the first batter Currie faced and the Grapeland leftie forced her to line out to third. She followed that up with a strikeout of Jackie MInyard and then got Kinzi Nolan to ground into a 5-3 force.

Wilson was equally as effective in the first inning. She got Cierra Simon to foul out and then K’d both Kiera DeCluette as well as Cheney Boyd to end the inning.

Compared to the first inning – along with the remainder of the game – the second inning saw an offensive explosion.

Currie struck out Bree Marshall on a full count to open the inning. Tyler Hoover was up next and reached second base on an infield error. Camryn Howard sacrificed Hoover to third and then Currie plunked Karigan Christian with a 1-0 pitch.

With runners at the corners, Hoover strayed a little too far off of the bag at third, was caught in a run down and eventually tagged out to bring the top half of the inning to a close.

When the Sandiettes came to bat, they managed to plate the only two runs of the game. Wilson caught Hannah Chipman looking at strike three to open the bottom of the second and then walked Currie.

Christy Shepherd came in as a courtesy runner for Currie and moved to second when Madi McCombs was hit by a pitch.

After KeKe Harris struck out, Haylee Reed came to the plate and slapped a shot down the third base line that was booted for an error. Shepherd and McCombs both came around to score on the play, while Reed ended up at second on the throw from the outfield.

After McCombs crossed the plate to make the score 2-0, Wilson regrouped to strike out Teira Jones to end the inning.

Currie was back in the circle in the top of the third and worked a 1-2-3 inning. She caught Calli Jordan swinging at strike three and then forced ground outs from both Wilson and Rachel Leach.

The Sandiettes threatened to add to their lead in the bottom of the third but were stymied in their efforts by the Lady Rebels’ defense. Simon singled on a bunt to lead off for Grapeland and then stole second.

DeCluette struck out to bring Boyd to the plate and on a 2-1 count, Simon broke for third but was gunned down on the attempted steal by Evadale catcher Bree Marshall. Wilson then struck out Boyd to end the inning.

The fourth, fifth, six and seventh innings were all three up and three down for the Lady Rebels while the Sandiettes didn’t fare much better.

McCombs singled in the fourth, Simon doubled in the fifth and Currie singled in the sixth, but none of the hits led to runs. The two runs scored by Grapeland in the second inning, however, were enough as the Sandiettes hung on for the 2-0 win.

Currie picked up the win with seven innings of work. She did not allow a hit, recorded eight Ks and issued zero walks.

Wilson was the hard-luck loser as she went six innings and gave up two runs (both unearned) on four hits. She also struck out 13 and walked one.

At the plate, the Sandiettes were led by Cierra Simon who was 2-3 and Madi McCombs who was 1-2 with a run scored.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].