Published: March 18, 2008 09:12 am      

Woodlawn holds off Waltonville

By PAUL WILCOXEN

paul.wilcoxen@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The Woodlawn Cardinals picked up a victory at the Jefferson County Invitational after defeating Waltonville, 4-2, in high school softball action Monday night in Mt. Vernon.

"Anytime you get a win and anytime you get a win against a team the caliber of Waltonville, you've got to be pleased because they've got two good pitchers and she did a nice job of keeping us off balance," said Woodlawn coach Eric Helbig. "She just had one bad inning, between her and the defense, and that led to our runs."

Woodlawn lost in their first contest to DuQuoin, 5-2.

The Lady Cardinals led through five, 2-1, before the Indians posted four runs in the sixth, the biggest hit coming off the bat of Kasi Camden, who hit a two run home run over the center field fence.

"We came out and didn't put the bat on the ball really well right away and that can be expected," said Helbig. "The girl (Kremer, who picked up the win for DuQuoin) kept us off balance and she did a good job. She was changing up her speeds. We've got to do a little better job of putting the ball into play."

The Lady Spartans led 1-0 after scoring a run in the top of third inning.

Chelsea Knight doubled down the left-field line and scored one batter later on a single to center from Kacey Rasnic.

For Waltonville coach Marvin Elliston, it was a matter of his team not taking advantage of opportunities on offense all day long.

"We came out pretty good, but our two (and) three girls weren't aggressive," he said. "In the last inning we had a junior and a senior and both of them took the called third strike. I told them after the game that they're not up there to look for a walk, but to swing the bat and hit the ball and they didn't do that."

Woodlawn scored all four of their runs in the third inning as Marian Powe led off the inning with at triple, followed by a walk to Brya Irvin and an error on the short stop, which allowed Powe to score the game's first run.

After a second walk in the inning to Lyndsey Diel loaded the base, Gena McKinzie knocked in a pair of runs on a two out single into left-center, followed by a single to right from Tabitha Smolley plated the Cardinals' fourth run of the inning.

"Coming out here and being on a field and playing in a game situation, I think we were a lot more comfortable that second game," said Helbig. "That definitely helped."

Freshman Bria McKinzie earned the win for Woodlawn as she pitched a complete game while allowing two runs (one earned), seven hits, and nine strike outs.

"She did a tremendous job," said Helbig of McKinzie. "She changed her speeds and was hitting her spots. She had them off balance all game long. She's going to help us out all year."

Woodlawn finished with six hits in the game, with six different hitters accounting for the production.

Gena McKinzie did finish with a team-high two runs batted in during the game.

"We did a good job and forced the defense to try and make plays," said Helbig. "We made some aggressive plays on the base paths. Anytime you can put pressure on the defense, hopefully good things are going to happen and it did for us that inning."

Waltonville was led at the plate by Knight and Rasnic, who each had a pair of hits in the loss.