Andalusia rebounds to eliminate Belles

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Errors and overconfidence are unforgiving.

The Greenville All-Star Dixie Belles team found out just how unforgiving errors are after being eliminated from the sub-district tournament. Greenville fell victim to at least 15 errors in a 13-7 loss to Luverne on Friday. Then in an elimination game on Saturday, Greenville's bats could not keep up with Andalusia in a 5-3 setback.

"You can't make that many mistakes in a game and win," Greenville coach Marcus Robinson said. "And I think we were a little too overconfident after opening the tournament with such a big win over Andalusia. In that rematch with them, I think we were still overconfident that we could beat them just as bad as we did the first time."

Only it didn't happen.

Andalusia broke a scoreless game open in the fourth inning by scoring a run.

Greenville responded by scoring all three of its runs in the next inning.

Anna Nelson and Abbey Mullins reached on a pair of singles and later scored on a two-RBI triple by Carrie Coker. Coker later scored Greenville's final run on a wild pitch.

Andalusia came back to reclaim the lead in the bottom half of the inning by scoring three runs and then put the game away by scoring another run in the sixth inning.

Cory Rice, Shantzel Peagler and Mullins led Greenville with two hits each.

In the 13-7 loss to Luverne, Greenville found itself trying to play catchup the entire game.

Luverne jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never looked back.

Greenville cut Luverne's lead in half in the bottom half of the first inning when Johnson reached on a walk and ended up scoring on a wild pitch.

But Luverne responded by tacking on four more runs in the second to extend its lead.

Greenville tried to catch up by scoring two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Peagler scored on a passed ball after reaching base with a single. Mullins reached on a fielder's choice and also later scored on a passed ball.

Luverne put the game away in the third and fourth innings by scoring five more runs to take an 11-3 lead. But Greenville kept fighting back.

Greenville scored four runs in the fourth to draw within four runs of Luverne.

Coker got things started for Greenville after reaching on a walk. She was later driven in on a RBI single by Peagler. Rice hit a RBI double to score Peagler and later scored, herself, on a wild pitch. Mullins later reached base after being hit by a pitch and eventually scored on another wild pitch.

But that was all of the offense Greenville could muster.

Luverne put the finishing touches to its win by adding two more runs in the seventh.