Sandiettes Blast Lady Tigers in District Opener

Grapeland Shuts Out Centerville, 11-0

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CENTERVILLE – The Grapeland Sandiettes opened District 21-AA play on the road against the Centerville Lady Tigers on Tuesday, March 6 and showed they were ready to defend their 2017 title with an 11-0 shellacking of their hosts.

The game was highlighted by the pitching of Cadie Belle Currie and the hitting of Cheney Boyd. Currie pitched five complete innings gave up three hits, no runs, struck out five and walked two while Boyd was 2-3 at the plate and blasted her first homerun of the season.

The Sandiettes opened the game and hung a five spot on the Lady Tigers. Cierra Simon led off with a single down the third base line and was followed by Kiera DeCluette who lined an 0-2 pitch through the middle of the infield.

Simon and DeCluette then executed a double steal to move to second and third. Currie was next in the batting order and slapped a base knock past short to bring in Simon and move DeCluette to third.

Christy Shepherd came in as a courtesy runner for Currie and promptly stole second. Boyd was up next but popped up to short for the first out of the inning.

Hannah Chipman followed Boyd in the batting order and laced a single to center which brought DeCluette across the plate and moved Shepherd to third.

Madi McCombs continued the hitting barrage for Grapeland with a single to plate Shepherd and move Chipman to third. McCombs moved to second on the throw in from the outfield.

KeKe Harris was the next Sandiette to settle into the batter’s box and even though she popped up for the second out – while she was at the plate – Chipman scampered home on a wild pitch as McCombs moved to third.

Diamond Maines-Dunn was the eighth batter in the inning and dropped a bat in front of the plate that allowed McCombs to cross the dish and make the score 5-0.

With a sizable lead, Currie worked around a leadoff single to Cristina Ortega and a walk to Sara Stutzman to retire the Lady Tigers with no damage done.

After a quiet second inning from both squads, Boyd led off the third with a bang, literally. After fouling off three straight pitches Boyd turned on a heater and deposited it over the left field fence for her first homerun of the season to make the score 6-0, in favor of the Sandiettes.

That was the only hit of the inning as Centerville’s Wilson and Grapeland’s Currie retired the next six batters they faced to move the game into the fourth inning.

Grapeland tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth as DeCluette tripled in Simon and Maines-Dunn to increase the Sandiettes lead to 8-0 by the end of the inning.

In the bottom half of the inning, Currie managed to work her way out of a jam after she gave up a one-out single to Kinsey Hardee and followed that up with a walk to Charmayne Hubbell. The Grapeland pitcher settled down after that to retire the next two batters she faced and move the game to the fifth inning with Grapeland ahead by a score of 8-0.

Hubbell relieved Wilson in the circle but was ineffective as she gave up three runs on a hit from Boyd, two errors and two walks which allowed Boyd, Chipman and Harris to cross the plate and make the score 11-0 before the third out was recorded.

Needing only three outs to end the game early, Currie went to work for the Sandiettes in the bottom of the fifth. She coaxed a fly ball out from Brooke Denman and foul out from Ortega for the second out of the inning. Needing only one out to end the game, Currie blew three straight pitches by Bailie Gray to strike her out and hand the Sandiettes a win to open district.

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