Sports Writer

This past week has been a difficult one for the Charles Henderson High School fast pitch softball team which goes way beyond its recent hitting slump.

Early Thursday afternoon, several members of the squad attended the funeral of former CHHS senior Todd Pennington who passed away last weekend in a tragic automobile accident. The events of the past week put everything in perspective for the Lady Trojans while dealing with the unexpected loss of a close friend.

Late Thursday evening at the Troy SportsPlex, the Lady Trojans gave a spirited effort against the number eight ranked

6A power Jeff Davis Lady Volunteers before a five run seventh inning broke open a tight game as they handed CHHS a 7-1 setback.

Effort, emotion and desire helped the Lady Trojans come just four outs away from pulling off a monumental win only to see the Lady Vols (24-9) use their superior depth and speed on the basepads to break a sixth inning deadlock en route to the win.

Fate seemed to be on the Lady Trojans side early in the contest as CHHS (15-13) hung tough against one of the better opponents its faced all season. With runners on first and second and one out,

Tara Trafford hit a ball which appeared head for a run scoring hit to the outfield. However, the ball hit Kelly Piazza while running from first to second base which forced the umpire to call her out halting the threat.

In the top of the third, CHHS freshman pitcher Brittany Carlisle (6-7) got out of another tight jam in a strange series of events for the second inning in a row without lots of damage as Jeff Davis loaded the bases. With one out, Rachael Day hit a pop up and was called automatically out on the infield fly rule. However, Kristen Davis gambled running at her own risk and scored just beating the throw to home plate giving the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead. One batter later, Carlisle got out of the inning on a pop out to catcher Laura Wesley ending the rally.

Carlisle continued to escape trouble in the top of the fourth as she got out of a first and second nobody out situation by retiring the next three batters to keep the Lady Trojans in the game.

The magic carpet ride got even bumpier for Carlisle in the top of the fifth as the Lady Vols loaded the bases with one out for the second time in the last three innings. However, Carlisle got out of trouble once again thanks to plenty of help from her teammates when Piazza hit into a third-to-home-to first double play ending the inning as CHHS continued to trail only 1-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Trojans finally broke through on the scoreboard with their only run of the game. After Amanda Floyd led off with a single, she advanced into scoring position reaching second on a passed ball. Following a strikeout, Carlisle advanced the runner to third on a sacrifice fly to right field. Three pitches later, Floyd scored on a wild pitch just beating the throw sliding under the tag to tie the game at 1-1.

With two outs in the top of the sixth, the Lady Trojans appeared to have the momentum until Jeff Davis’s Rachael Bowen singled and reached second on an error in the outfield before scoring what proved to be the game winning run on a RBI single by Rachael Telehamy.

The Lady Trojans were to able to get the lead-off batter on in the bottom of the sixth when Wesley singled to start the inning. Unfortunately, JD winning pitcher Rachael Herring was able to get the next three consecutive batters out to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Lady Vols finally got to Carlisle scoring five runs with the key blow coming when Trafford drove in two runs on a tough luck infield error as the Lady Trojans trailed only 3-1 at the time.

Herring was overpowering earning the win allowing just one run on three hits while striking out 10 batters in seven innings of work. For the third straight start, Carlisle was charged with another hard luck loss allowing only three earned runs on 15 hits while striking out two batters without giving up a walk in the effort.

The varsity squad returns to action Tuesday afternoon when they host sectional rival Eufaula. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m.

CHHS (JV) 11 Jeff Davis 4

Meanwhile, the Charles Henderson junior varsity team continued its late season surge improving to 14-11 with a convincing 11-4 victory over the JD junior varsity Thursday afternoon.

Leading 1-0 going into the bottom of the third, the Lady Trojans broke the game open scoring nine runs as they sent 11 batters to the plate. The key blows were a two RBI double by Claire Goodson and a two RBI triple by Samantha Johnson. Goodson and Janie Boswell led the Lady Trojans with two hits apiece in the winning effort.

The CHHS junior varsity concludes the season on Thursday afternoon when they travel to face Enterprise. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m.