Lady Tigers win Hillcrest Invitational

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 17, 2002

The Demopolis Lady Tigers went a perfect 6-0 recently in a tournament held at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa.

DHS defeated the host in the championship game to earn the title.

Demopolis (18-9) started the game with a single by Justina Quinney on the first pitch. Quinney stole second and then scored on a double by Lauren Roark.

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With the 1-0 lead, the Lady Tigers seemed to be able to do no wrong. Hillcrest threatened to score in the bottom of the second when the lead-off batter singled and reached second on a passed ball.

However, Timie Lee caught a line drive to left and doubled up the Hillcrest runner to end the threat.

The momentum from the double play carried to the top of the third as Demopolis extended its lead to 4-0.

Quinney again started the rally with a single. Roark

also singled.

A double by Suzann Wommack scored one run.

Katie Simmons then singled Roark and Wommack home.

The Demopolis defense would continue to be strong throughout the game.

Hillcrest would load the bases in the seventh inning, but they would only be able to score one run.

The game ended as Lauren Roark threw out a Lady Patriot trying to score on an outfield single. Latoya Dill gathered the ball and applied the tag securing the trophy for the Lady Tigers.

Kelly Keasler( 5-6) picked up the win for Demopolis.

She scattered four hits while striking out six batters.

Game 1

Demopolis 5, Hillcrest 0

Demopolis defeated Brookwood 5-0 on an explosive fourth inning in the first round of the Hillcrest Invitational.

Lauren Roark (4-2) picked up the win as she tossed a one hitter and struck out 10.

The Demopolis rally saw Kelly Keasler and Lauren Roark reach on errors.

Suzann Wommack delivered a hit to score Keasler. Katie Simmons then reached on a single to load the bases.

Brittany McGee then knocked in two Lady Tigers to push the lead to 3-0. Timie Lee would then add to the lead with a RBI single. After a Heather Wright single, Justina Quinney would tack on the final Demopolis run.

Game 2

Demopolis 2,

Hewitt-Trussville 1

In the second game, Demopolis came from behind to defeat a tough Hewitt-Trussville team.

A fielding error led to an early lead by Trussville.

However, Kelly Keasler struck out eight of the next 14 batters to keep them under control.

Demopolis would manufacture a run in the fourth inning as Justina Quinney started the inning with a triple. Lauren Roark would single home Quinney to even the score.

Demopolis would take the in the top of the seventh inning as Jannet Woods scored on a hit by Brittany McGee. Woods started the inning on second base due to the international tie-breaker rules.

The Demopolis defense would stand tall in the bottom of the seventh inning as Hewitt would have runners at second and third with no outs.

Keasler settled down and promptly struck the next three out to seal the victory. She ended the game with 15 strikeouts while only surrendering two hits.

Game 3

Demopolis 4,

Central-Tuscaloosa 2

In the third game of tournament play, Demopolis played a solid Central-Tuscaloosa squad.

Central put the first run on the board as their lead-off batter singled and later scored.

However, Demopolis would not fold.

Responding in the top of the second inning, Demopolis scored four runs to take charge of the game. Breanna McCrory and Timie Lee started the rally with singles.

Heather Wright then walked.

Justina Quinney, Kelly Keasler, Lauren Roark, and Suzann Wommack all singled to score the Lady Tiger runs.

Demopolis would give up a run late in the game, but it was not enough for the Lady Falcons.

Lauren Roark(5-2) picked up the win for the Lady Tigers.

She gave up four hits while striking out three.

With the victory, Demopolis earned a perfect 3-0 record in the pool play and a #1 seed for the elimination tournament.

Game 4

Demopolis 3,

Mortimor Jordan 1

Against Mortimor Jordan, Kelly Keasler (4-6) threw a masterful game and kept the Lady Devils off balance. She gave up three hits and struck out seven to keep the Lady Tigers alive in the tournament.

The Demopolis offense came from the bat of Katie Simmons. Simmons hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to even the score 1-1. Lauren Roark tagged up on the play after hitting a double earlier in the inning.

In the sixth inning, Simmons again came to the plate with runners in scoring position and again delivered.

With two outs, she doubled to left to score Keasler and Wommack.

Both runners had reached on walks.

With the victory, the Lady Tigers moved closer to the championship trophy.

Game 5

Demopolis 6,

Hewitt-Trussville 5

In a rematch from the previous evenings events, Demopolis would have to defeat Trussville again to advance to the championship trophy.

The Lady Tigers bats came alive in the first inning as Justina Quinney started the game with a single. After a steal of second, Lauren Roark singled her home. Roark would score as Katie Simmons reached base on an error.

Hewitt would respond with a run in their half of the first inning. The Lady Tigers scored another run in the third inning after a Wommack single scored Roark.

Continuing to find ways to reach base, the Lady Tigers scored two more runs in the fourth inning. Brittany McGee led off with a walk.

She would move to second on a fielder’s choice by Breanna McCrory.

A double by Timie Lee scored McGee.

Lee would then score on a double by Justina Quinney.

With a 5-1 lead, the game looked to be well in hand.

However, Trussville would take advantage of four errors to score three runs and the lead was suddenly 5-4. They would score another run in the fifth inning after a lead off triple.

Due to tournament rules, the time limit expired, and the international tie-breaker rule came into effect. Jannet Woods entered as a pinch runner and went to second.

After Woods stole third, McGee bunted. On the play, Hewitt overthrew the play at first. The Hewitt fielder then threw home to get Woods trying to score.

While the play was going on, McGee was waved to second base since it was unoccupied by and Trussville players.

The catcher tagged Woods at the plate and promptly threw toward second base.

Unfortunately for Trussville, the ball sailed harmlessly into centerfield and stopped only when it hit the fence. McGee rounded the bases to give Demopolis the 6-5 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Demopolis again faced a similar situation as the night before. This time Keasler, in relief, wasted little time shutting down the opposing batters.

Lauren Roark (6-2) picked up the win for Demopolis while Kelly Keasler earned her first save of the year.

Demopolis had also earned a trip to play the host for the championship trophy.