It took more years than anyone would care to remember, but the Chattahoochee Valley Community College Lady Pirates fastpitch softball team finally brought home the gold – make that bronze.
Not once, until last weekend, throughout the history of the program had the Lady Pirates won a trophy. That dry spell ended last weekend when the team won the Bronze Division of the Ringor Fastpitch Invitational in Aiken, S.C.
“This is great. The girls have worked hard. They deserve this moment,” said CVCC coach Steve O’Steen after his team defeated Cleveland (Tenn.) State 9-1 in five innings to claim the trophy. “We’ve had a rough start to the season with the weather keeping us off the field until it was time to play. It took us a while to get going like I expected.”
The Lady Pirates were 0-5 as they entered the tournament and extended their losing streak to six games before beating the University of South Carolina-Sumter 9-1 in five innings during the pool play portion of the tournament. The Lady Pirates finished pool play at 1-2 and a chance to win any hardware seemed out of reach.
But, the Lady Pirates overcame the odds and won the trophy for their division by defeating both Hiwassee (Tenn.) College, 11-2, and Cleveland. With those victories, CVCC enters this week’s slate of games at 3-7 overall.
Two of the three wins for the Lady Pirates were shortened by the eight-run mercy rule after five innings.
In the title game, Kayla Miles ended the game with a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was Miles’ second homer of the tournament. She was 3-for-3 with a single, double and home run in the championship game.
Megan Brown was also 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a double. Kendall Livingston was 2-for-3 with a double. Mary Cook was 1-for-2 and Jessica Watson was 1-for-3.
Shaylee Moore picked up her second pitching victory of the tournament in the championship game, going three innings and allowing five hits and walking just one. Jessica Harvey, who got the win over Hiwassee, came in to relieve and recorded the final four outs – three by strikeouts.
Harvey struck out five and allowed three hits in her win over Hiwassee. Moore relieved her for the final two innings and allowed one hit while striking out two.
Kaylee Sanders was 3-for-3 with a double for CVCC against Hiwassee. Miles was 2-for-3 with a home run. Brittney Clark was 2-for-3 and Kristen Anglea was 2-for-4 with a double.
CVCC opened the pool play portion of the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Walters (Tenn.) State. CVCC gave up two runs in the first inning and held Walters scoreless and to three hits for the final six innings.
Livingston and Brown were each 1-for-2 in the loss.
In their second game, the 11-2 win over USC-Sumter, Christi Long doubled in Mary Cook in the fifth inning to end the contest. Mile was 2-for-2 wile Oveyana Gordon went 2-for-3 with a double and Long and Brown were each 1-for-2.
The Lady Pirates finished pool play with a 15-0 loss to Coastal Georgia of Brunswick, Ga. Clark was 1-for-1 while Livingston, Cook and Watson were each 1-for-2.
Miles was 7-for-9 at the plate during the tournament with two home runs, a double and six RBIs.
CVCC is scheduled to play on the road at LaGrange College on Saturday and at Andrew College on Sunday.