Evans ' bats come through in win over rival Lakeside

Colette Cassedy thought it was just a matter of time.

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Through its first seven games, Evans' softball squad had hit the ball. The only problem is those balls found gloves.

Tuesday evening, the Lady Knights found their groove at the plate, amassing 15 hits in an 8-1 victory over region rival Lakeside.

"We've been hitting it pretty much all year. We've just been hitting it at people," Cassedy said. "It's really not anything different from what we've been doing. Today, we just had a lot more fall in."

Fourteen of the hits for the Lady Knights (3-5, 1-1 Region 2B-AAAA) were singles against Lakeside starting pitcher Jessie Wiegers, who pitched a complete game. Evans got on base via hit in a variety of ways, with bunt singles, infield singles, grounders between fielders and a few line drives.

The lone exception among the hits was a fifth-inning double by Tiffany Sellers that punctuated the victory.

"It's just a matter of waiting for that pitch you know you can just take," said Sellers, new at Evans after moving from Jacksonville, Fla., prior to this school year. "... When you see that pitch coming, you can see it off her hand and you know that this is my pitch."

For Evans, Kristin Hampson was 3 for 3, while Savanna Gladue, Kayla Cates, Rebecca Olson, Lexi Dodgen and Sellers had two hits apiece.

The Lady Knights notched three runs in both the second and third innings. The surge was highlighted by two-run singles by Cates in the second and Gladue in the third. Evans added a pair of runs in the fifth.

The Lady Panthers (0-6, 0-4 Region 2B-AAAA) scored their lone run in the fourth inning. Shannon McCarty hit a fielder's choice to third, and Caroline Stanley scored from third when Cates couldn't handle Gladue's throw home.

"This is a building year," second-year Lakeside coach Christy Jackson said. "We've got three seniors. The rest are sophomores and freshmen. So we're building and trying to improve."

One of the highlights for Lakeside came on defense from sophomore Cara Parker. Early on, the shortstop fired a throw home to retire an Evans base runner.

"I was just trying to keep everybody's heads up," said Parker, the sister of Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker. "I didn't want anybody to get out of the game or anything."

Parker also had one of Lakeside's five hits.

Dodgen got the victory for Evans, allowing three hits and an unearned run to go along with her 2 for 4 effort at the plate.

"I felt confident," the sophomore said. "We beat them last year, so I kind of felt like we could do it again. I just kept that in my head. It kept me motivated."

Brooke Sarver closed the game, allowing two hits and striking out two in three innings. Sarver, who led Evans in the playoffs last year while standout senior pitcher Jenny Shepherd was out, had not pitched this season prior to Tuesday because of an injury