OHS girls beat Luverne 6-5 in 8; tourney postponed

Published 12:01 am Friday, May 4, 2012

Opp pitcher Anna Harrelson came in to relieve for the Lady Bobcats, giving up no runs on three hits and two walks in four innings to help lead her team to a 6-5 victory over Luverne in the first round of the Class 3A, Area 2 tournament on Thursday.

After the Lady Bobcats secured the win, the weather came through and the games were canceled for the day.

OHS will play Geneva today at 9 a.m., and if it wins the first game, then the Lady Bobcats will earn a berth to play in the south regional tournament in Gulf Shores. They have to win two more games to win the area crown.

The Lady Bobcats went ahead 2-0 early in the second inning when Beth Anne Spurlin scored on a single by Harrelson, and Erica Ladson scored on a passed ball.

Luverne came back and scored five runs on four hits, one walk and a hit batter in the third inning.

Kourtnee Bradley came in and “put the fire out,” OHS Jimmy Reeves said.

In the bottom of the seventh, Opp tied it when Kelly Pierce reached on an infield single; Harrelson reached on a single; and Cayla Hughes walked to load the bases with no outs.

Savannah Gerber then hit a ground ball to the pitcher, and she threw Pierce out at home for the first out. Opp got two outs when Laiken Free struck out, but that didn’t matter when Courtney Chatham hit a two-strike triple to score three runs for the 5-5 tie.

The Lady Bobcats held LHS in the eighth, and had bases loaded again in the bottom half of the frame.

Gerber hit an infeld single between first and second to score Pierce for the win.

Harrelson had three hits; Pierce had two hits; and Chatham had her triple to lead OHS.