Pitcher Shari Beavers collects one of her three hits.
Fort Hill and Colonel Richardson coaches meet at home to discuss what should happen after Brittani Hines hit out of order.
Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.comBrittani Hines blames – no, doesn’t give credit to -- her coach for Fort Hill’s win.
In the second inning, the junior right fielder batted out of order, hitting eighth instead of her assigned ninth spot. That’s what the lineup posted in the dugout called for, she argued.
Turns out, it was the perfect move. Hines hit a double, driving in Fort Hill’s first run and igniting a five-run second inning that gave Fort Hill a constant lead throughout the 1A state championship game. Fort Hill went on to win, 9-4, Saturday at the University of Maryland.
It is Fort Hill’s first softball championship in program history and the first title for any girl’s sports team since 1954.
“We got out of batting order and I was supposed to go before Lindsay [Fisher],” Hines said. “It made us mad at our coach so we had to come back and get more runs.”
Colonel Richardson coach Earl Jester protested the batting out of order but it was after the next batter had already been pitched to, which after a long meeting between umpires and coaches, was determined to be too late.
That meant that Hines, who had been called out originally, got to return back to second base. Kathryn Huber followed Hines with a two-RBI single. Destiny James then hit an RBI triple and pitcher Shari Beavers blasted an RBI double.
Colonel Richardson scored three runs three runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth but Fort Hill pushed across two in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Beavers pitched a complete game and went 3-for-3 with a walk. She struck out eight batters, including Colonel Richardson’s cleanup hitter in the first inning with a runner on second base.
“It’s amazing to get the school’s first championship,” Beavers said. “We came out here two years ago as a freshman. We thought we had it and we got murdered. So to come back and get revenge on the same team, it feels great. … I’ve always dreamed about it but to actually come out and do it means a lot.”