Published: May 18, 2007 09:36 am            

Top-seeded East girls hustle into the postseason

May 16, 2007 — GRAYSON - Taking an unblemished 6-0 mark in conference play into the postseason, the East Carter softball team is top-seeded in next week’s 62nd District Tournament.

Owning two regular-season victories each over rival West Carter, Morgan County and Elliott County, the ball-playin’ gals from Grayson garnered the event’s top spot and will face the Lady Lions from Sandy Hook in one of Monday’s semifinal matchups. The Lady Comets and Morgan County take the field in the other game. The girls’ final is slated for next Tuesday, May 22.



“Our hitting has really improved a lot this season,” Lady Raider senior slugger Heather Roseberry told The Journal-Times prior to Monday’s game against Lawrence County.

“We’ve really worked hard on advancing our base runners, making contact from the plate. And we hit up and down the lineup, it’s not just a few players – all of us can make contact.”

East Carter stands 10-9 overall and will need just a win over Elliott to gain a berth into the 16th Region Tournament.

Through those 19 contests, the Lady Raiders have pounded out 152 team hits and scored 133 total runs. The overall team batting average is .311. Junior infielder Stevie Sharp leads the locals’ offense, blasting a team-best 35 hits for 25RBI and an impressive .530 batting average. Sharp owns thee homeruns and 10 doubles. Kyra Baier has ripped 24 hits and Roseberry, swinging in the clean-up spot, has 21 hits with 16 RBI. Ashley Artis has scored a team-high 26 runs on 19 hits and 60 at bats.

Senior right-hander BJ Felty dominates times from the mound for East, having faced 409 batters in nearly 90 innings of work. Felty struck out 48 and has an ERA of 3.59. Ashton Porter, Callie Blevins and Kyra Baier also see action with the big yellow ball, but Felty shoulders most of the pitching load.

“I’ve just got to hit my spots with my pitches so the other teams don’t get may chances to hit the ball,” Felty said about next week’s district-tournament games.

Prior to Monday’s game, the Lady Raider faithful honored senior players Molly Metcalf, Heather Roseberry, Kyra Baier, Leah Stephens, Ashley Artis and BJ Felty.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.