Anderson lifts Lady Gators over Lady Stings

By Joey Richards
The Daily News

Published March 12, 2008

DICKINSON — Holly Anderson was jumping for joy. After coming so close to beating Texas City the two previous years, Anderson didn’t suffer another heartbreaking loss against the Lady Stings.

The senior doubled in Shelbee Berringer with no outs in the eighth inning to lift Dickinson to a 1-0 victory over Texas City in the District 23-4A softball game on Tuesday.

“Oh my gosh, the game of my life,” Anderson said. “The last two years, we’ve been defeated by them. Every game has always been a one-run game or something like that. We just came ready to play today, and our team pulled it off.”

It was a big win for Dickinson, which improved to 15-3 overall and 2-1 in district.

Texas City, the two-time defending district champs, dropped to 0-3 in district — all three one-run losses. The Lady Stings are 11-8-1 overall.

Anderson, who was 3-for-3 at the plate, including two doubles, also pitched a brilliant game. She allowed two hits, struck out seven and walked four in going all eight innings.

The Lady Gators played great defense behind Anderson (9-3). With a runner at third and one out, Berringer, Dickinson’s third baseman, made a nice catch on Logan Mason’s foul pop near the Lady Gators’ dugout. Then Ashley Burkeen made a beautiful running catch on Crystal Alaniz’s deep drive to center for the third out.

“I thought we played a fantastic defensive game,” Dickinson coach Mitzi Matthews said. “We had some good catches in the outfield. Infield did their job. Everyone did their job tonight.”

Alaniz also pitched a great game. She struck out 11, walked two and hit a batter. She had scattered just three hits until Berringer and Anderson hit consecutive doubles in the eighth to win the game.

Both teams had their chances to win the game in regulation. Texas City left seven runners stranded, five in scoring position. Dickinson left eight runners stranded, four in scoring position.

Dickinson had a great opportunity in the third inning. Alaniz hit Burkeen with a pitch to open Dickinson’s half of the inning. She went to third when Megan Lamb reached on a two-base error by second baseman Kealey Treadaway. But Treadaway came up with a big catch on Jessica Corson’s line drive. Alaniz then struck out Berringer.

After an intentional walk to Anderson, Dickinson’s leading RBI producer, Alaniz got Brittany Calderon to pop out to third.

Anderson led off the sixth with a double and took third on Calderon’s sacrifice bunt. Alaniz struck out Kristy Rardin and pinch-hitter Kati Walker to end the threat.

Texas City, which had only one hit in the regulation seven innings, had its big chance when Chastity Skipper doubled to lead off the eighth inning. She took third on Emily Abbott’s sacrifice bunt.

Suddenly, it looked like Texas City would take a 1-0 lead.

“I was thinking my team had my back,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t really worried about anything. I just cleared my head and pitched my game.”

Anderson stuck out Alaniz and got Jennifer Patina to ground out to third.

That set up the heroics in the bottom of the inning.

Berringer doubled into the gap in left center. Anderson followed with a shot to the fence in right, driving home Berringer.

“It was very exciting,” Matthews said. “Both teams played very well. It was a tough match all the way down to the wire. We just connected when we needed to connect and made the run.”