Waldrop Drops Royals

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond

CHESTER – You thought football was a game of inches? Softball is as well.

Two similar plays in the fourth inning turned out Thomas Dale’s way, as the Knights kept their unblemished record with a 1-0 victory over Prince George Thursday night in a crucial Central District contest.

The Royals (3-1 Central, 6-2), ranked fourth in the latest DigitalSports Top 10, had ladies on second and third with no out in the top of the fourth inning.

After a pop out, a Lacey Waldrop pitch got away from catcher Sarah Heretick, putting the No. 5 Knights (6-0, 9-0) in a pickle.

An alert pinch runner in PG’s Stephanie Rodenberry bolted home from third base.

But Heretick found the yellow softball and chucked it to Waldrop, who tagged a sliding Rodenberry for the second out of the inning.

Waldrop got a strikeout to end the inning. She had 13 K’s on the evening, but her offensive game won the game for TD.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, PG’s terrific pitcher Lauren Vinson, who also had 13 strikeouts in one less inning of work, gave up a single to Waldrop after a long at-bat.

Then TD’s Lauryn Nanny jumped on Vinson’s next offering for a double, getting Dale’s own second and third situation with no out.

Deja vu happened within 10 minutes. Vinson’s pitch got by her catcher Ashley Lowe, just like Waldrop’s did earlier in the inning.

But Lowe couldn’t find it in time as Waldrop raced home for the game’s only score.

Two exact same situations. Two exact different outcomes. Ballgame.

“We had the opportunity as well and the ball ricocheted back a little further,” Prince George coach Pat Waguespack said. “I guess that’s just the luck of the bounce. Our ball didn’t roll very far away, but sometimes it’s hard to find. That’s a tough way to lose a game.”

Said Waldrop: “As soon as I saw the ball go past the catcher, I was just like, ‘I gotta go. We have to get on top.’ When I made it I was really happy.”

Waldrop and Vinson went pitch-for-pitch as expected. They both whiffed 13 batters, Vinson in one less inning of work.

Waldrop gave up two hits, Vinson three. The special part is that Waldrop is a freshman and Vinson a sophomore.

That’s good news for softball fans that have seven seasons worth of the fabulous hurlers left, but bad news for the girls that have to step in the box against them.

Speaking of seven, it had been seven seasons since a TD softball team walked off the diamond victorious over a PG team.

That pleases Dale coach Dennis Jones as he hopes his Knights can build on the victory.

“This is very big,” Jones said. “I feel like we don’t get a lot of respect, any of us south of the river. It’s all the Lee-Davis’ and Atlee’s. Which they are good teams. Hopefully this will give us a little bit more respect with those guys and hopefully we can keep it going.

“We still have to keep fighting. We have 11 more games after this. Long road. We’ll be all right. I have confidence in them.”

Prince George 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
Thomas Dale 000 100 x – 1 3 0
Vinson and Lowe; Waldrop and Heretick.
Records: Prince George (3-1 Central, 6-2); Thomas Dale (6-0, 9-0)