Published Tuesday, May 06, 2008 8:37 AM
Updated Tuesday, May 06, 2008 8:38 AM
Jordan Strang (1) and Erica Kauffman (12) round the bases to head for home on Ashley Metts’ double.
The Lady Stags are all smiles as District champs
Ashley Metts broke the ice with a ground-rule double to right center in the Lady Stags win over Conway.
District Champs!
Lady Stags reach Final Four with shut out
Behind the arm and bat of sophomore Taylor Luff, the Lady Stags captured the District 5 championship 4-0 over the Conway Tigers.
“This is a first in the history of Berkeley High School,” said Lady Stags coach Jesse Abrams. “To my knowledge, no Berkeley softball team has advanced this far.”
First time or not, the Lady Stags don’t care, the win meant Berkeley was one of four Lowcountry teams to battle for the Lower State championship and one of eight teams in the entire state.
“This was a team effort and a testament to this team,” Abrams said. “They peaked at the right time. We’ve been up and down all season and there were times this year when we didn’t play very well, but we seemed to come together at playoff time and we’ve been riding that high ever since.”
Abrams said his Lady Stags did what they had to do when they had to in order to win ball games.
“If we needed a big hit, we got the big hit,” the coach said. “If we needed the big stop in the field we got it. We’ve also been scoring early. It’s a lot easier to play a game up 3-0 than it is down 3-0.”
Luff carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning and supplied the big hit, a 2-run double in the Lady Stags 3-run first to give Berkeley a lead it would not relinquish.
“I’m just so excited … I don’t know what to say,” she said. “This is totally awesome.”
Contact Dan Brown at dbrown@berkeleyind.com