LC Hopes For Better Outcome At Region Softball Tourney

LOUISBURG -- Redemption can sometimes take a lifetime to attain -- but the wait will be only one week for members of the Louisburg College softball team.

Last weekend, with the Region X regular season crown on the line, the Lady Hurricanes were swept in a three-game series at Pitt Community College.

The prize for winning the regular season title is the top seed in the upcoming Region X Tournament, which will begin Thursday at Springwood Park in Burlington.

The stakes will be much higher this weekend as the tourney champion will earn a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Softball World Series.

Louisburg, with a 32-9 overall record, will be seeded second and will open the double-elimination format Thursday at 2 p.m. against Southeastern Community College from Whiteville.

LC had hoped to be the No. 1 seed, but that aspiration was vanquished during its 0-3 journey to Pitt last weekend.

In last Friday's twinbill at Winterville Park in Pitt County, the Lady Hurricanes were swept by scores of 5-4 and 3-1.

The Lady Hurricanes moved ahead in the opener when Haleigh Joyner and Mary Anna Clement came through with back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the third stanza of action.

Jacie Arrington increased LC's cushion to 4-0 with a two-run blast in the fourth, but the Lady Bulldogs would answer with a combined five runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth frames.

Three of the runs were unearned as Louisburg committed an uncharacteristic four errors for the outing.

In game two, LC never led as Pitt's Janna Dawson fashioned a three-hitter on the hill.

All of Pitt's runs were unearned, and Louisburg wasn't able to dent the scoreboard until Brittany Williams' RBI triple in the top of the sixth.

The Lady Bulldogs closed out the series sweep last Saturday with a 4-2 triumph as LC could not recover from Pitt's four-spot in the bottom of the third.

Clement drove in both of Louisburg's markers, and teammate LeeAnn Nobles collected a pair of hits, including a double.

The Lady Hurricanes will have to quickly recover from the mental disappointment of last weekend in order to be ready for the upcoming tournament.

"When a team does not perform to its capability when it matters most or when the moment becomes too big, that lands solely on the feet of the head coach,'' Lee said. "We are far too talented of a team to have (a three-game sweep) happen to us.

"It's now up to me to see if I can do a better job this week of preparing the team for another big event. I just think the moment got to us last weekend.

"We made seven errors in two games last Friday, and you aren't going to beat a good team doing that.''