Washington faces a tall task in trying to beat D.H. Conley in the second round of the playoffs but if it can stop the Vikings’ short game the Pam Pack feel like it has a good chance to advance.
Tonight, Washington (12-12), the No. 4 seed from the Coastal Conference will face a familiar foe in Conley (20-4), the No. 1 seed from the Coastal Conference. The Vikings have beaten the Pam Pack in both regular season meetings this season en route to finishing the year with a perfect Coastal Conference record.
Washington coach Doug Whitehead said that in order to pull off an upset his team must play perfect defense in bunt situations.
“There’s no secrets between the two teams. We played them twice in the regular season and lost both times (6-3, 6-2),” Whitehead said. “They have excellent speed and control the bunt extremely well. If we can take the bunt away from them and keep them off the base paths that’s the important thing. If they get a runner on base they will drop down two or three bunts in a row and before you know the bases are loaded and a run scored.”
Whitehead preached the importance of defense at the start of the playoffs and his team responded. Playing on the road against No. 1 Currituck (11-13, Tar Roanoke) the Pam Pack played error-free ball as it won 4-2 over the Knights.
Washington jumped out to a fast start as it scored all four of its runs in the first inning, then played stellar defense behind junior pitcher Morgan Bryant.
After Kristi Wood and Shakeria Lomax led off the game with singles, Justyce McKissick was able to drive in the first run of the game with a short grounder. Bryant followed up with a two-run single to make it 3-0 and Sydney Gurkin drove in the team’s final run to take a 4-0 lead.
Currituck threatened in the fourth when it rallied for two runs, but the Pam Pack defense held up and stifled the rally.
Bryant finished the game throwing all seven innings, scattering six hits while striking out three and walking one.
Bryant has taken over on the hill since team ace Brandi Hardison sustained an injury and has performed admirably. Whitehead said what makes Bryant good is her craftiness on the mound.
“She moves the ball around and tries to never go down the middle of the plate,” Whitehead said. “She’s got a curveball that works away from right-handed batters and a slider that goes into them. She has a little bit of a rise and an effective changeup that she has thrown of late, and is throwing it for strikes. The big thing for Morgan is for her to stay ahead of her batters … She works well with Shakeria Lomax behind the plate who calls most of the pitches.”
Conley is capable of throwing two pitchers as both Sarah Christian and Alecia Gurkins have pitched against Washington this year. However, Whitehead said he expects to see Christian on Friday.
“If I had to pick I would go with my ace, there is no doubt Sarah Christian is a very strong pitcher,” Whitehead said. “She signed with East Carolina and is going there next year. If it were me, if I was making the lineup, I would pitch her. She has four years of experience. She is very smart and keeps the ball low and has better than average velocity. That’s who I would expect to face.”
If the Pam Pack can get past Conley it will play for a district title against the winner of the No. 1 Hunt (20-3, Big East) – No. 2 Aycock (21-5, Eastern Carolina) game.