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| Offense Carries Prairie View Softball |
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| Sports | |||
| Written by David Wolman | |||
| Wednesday, 29 April 2009 08:00 | |||
LA CYGNE — Prairie View freshman Samantha Owens was trying to get into the head of Columbus’ catcher.  Owens walked halfway down the third-base baseline to get out to a big lead, while Iris Cornejo, Owens’ teammate, was batting during a 3-all tie in the fourth inning of Friday’s game. “I was trying to make the catcher to throw the ball so I could steal home (plate),” Owens said, following Prairie View’s 9-4 victory over Columbus. “It does get on their minds because if they make an error or if they throw it, I can go ahead and go home and score.” Columbus’ catcher nearly threw out Owens the first time, but Owens slid safely back into third base well ahead of the tag. Owens again got out to a big lead down the third base line. She figured she would score if the Columbus catcher again threw to third base. “Since she threw it (once), I figured I could get there because I have some speed,” Owens said. On the second attempt by Columbus’ catcher to gun down Owens at third base, Owens crossed home plate well before the throw from Columbus’ third baseman to the catcher made it. Prairie View won the battle of mind games and the game. All the pressure was placed on Columbus. For Owens, it was all a part of a three-for-three effort. It took a couple of innings for Prairie View’s offense to get going. Columbus’ pitcher retired the first five Prairie View batters she faced, blowing many pitches by them. “We had to get used to (the home plate umpire) strike zone,” Prairie View coach Lisa Boone said. “Every umpire’s is different. He had a pretty big one, and you have to get used to that, especially if you haven’t seen it all year.” Erin Roche jump started Prairie View’s offense. She sliced the ball down the right field line, and with the blustery winds that were blowing from side to side, it sailed over the head of Columbus’ right fielder. Boone kept waving her hands to get Roche to run more quickly around the base paths. It was an in-the-park home run or bust for Roche. “I was going to send her home no matter what because I wanted to score,” Boone said. “I just kept telling her to run faster.” Columbus’ right fielder attempted to gun down Roche at home plate, but her throw sailed wide of the third-base line. Roche ran into home plate standing up for a 1-0 Buffalos’ lead. Owens followed with a triple, and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. Columbus rocked Prairie View starter Hannah Behm for three runs in the top of the third. Two Prairie View errors — both on fly balls that dropped in front of Prairie View’s outfielders — also aided Columbus. “Most of it was miscommunication between our right fielder and center fielder,” Boone said. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Roche and Owens helped the Buffalos take the lead back in the fourth. Roche reached on a one-out double and scored on an RBI single by Owens to tie the game at 3-3. Owens stole home plate for a 4-3 lead — a lead the Buffalos wouldn’t relinquish. Columbus appeared to have a one-out rally working in the fifth, as it had runners on second and third bases with out A hard liner off the bat of a Columbus batter appeared to be destined for center field, and allow at least one run to score. But Behm quickly moved her glove and caught the ball. She then threw to third base to gun down the Columbus runner, who attempted to slide safely back into the base, and complete the inning-ending double play. “You never know,” Boone said. “It’s one of those things that happens so fast. I’m so glad she got it because they had runners on second and third. It could’ve totally turned the whole game around. But that double play was a big factor in us winning the game.” Prairie View piled it on in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five times to blow the game wide open. Casey Thayer, Behm and Emily Moore each had RBI hits, while Cornejo drove in two runs on an error.
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