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Greenville
junior Karlee Lennen rounds third as Wave coach Jerrod
Newland
watches in the fifth, on a RBI single by sophomore Ally
Russell. Greenville
eliminated Greenon, 8-0 and will now play Tuesday
at Tecumseh.
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Greenon no
match for Lady Wave
Luce goes deep in
Greenville win
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- Haleigh Luce has been a terror all season for the
Greenville Lady Wave softball team at the plate and Thursday night at
Lady Wave Stadium, the scenario was no different.
Luce accounted for four of the eight runs Greenville put on the board
as the Wave shutout Greenon, 8-0 to move on in sectional play.
“It was a great night for Lady Wave Softball,” said coach Jerrod
Newland after the game. “It’s that time of the year when anything can
happen. We put the ball into play, forced the action and we move on.”
Greenville struck for three runs in the opening frame, highlighted by a
two run single off the bat of senior Erin Albright, scoring pitcher
Ally Russell and Luce.
Greenville struck for three more in the fourth.
After Karlee Lennen reached on a error by the Knights shortstop and was
bunted to second by Rachel Class, Russell drove her home with a single
to left, putting the Wave up 4-0.
That brought Luce to the plate and it didn’t take her long to drive a
pitch over the fence in left for two more runs and a 6-0 Wave lead.
Luce would strike again in the sixth with a two run double to center,
scoring Lennen and Class, giving the Wave the 8-0 advantage.
“She was a stud today,” said Newland of Luce. “She’s just a great kid
that leads the outfield and on offense, she has 40 hits on the year.
She just does it the right way and she plays the game hard and with
intensity. You just can’t ask for any more out of a kid. The next three
weeks she will be a leader and help us get to Akron again and bring one
home (D-II State Title).”
In the circle, Russell was equally as impressive as Luce was at the
plate.
In seven innings, the Wave sophomore allowed just two hits while
fanning 10 and not allowing a walk.
“She was a stud out there as well,” said Newland. “She was sharp
tonight and will keep us in a lot of ball games in the future. She’s
getting better. She’s moving the ball around and getting it to hop and
spin. She just had a very nice game in the circle today.”
While the Wave defense was good, it wasn’t perfect on this night.
Greenville committed two errors. Something the Wave can ill afford to
do in the sectional final.
“We had a couple of minor snafu’s out there tonight but neither one of
them hurt us,” Newland stated. “They put the ball into play and once it
took a funny hop or bounced the wrong way and it’s something we need to
work on before Tuesday.”
The Wave will play at Tecumseh on Tuesday against the winner of the
Springfield Shawnee/Bellefontaine game.
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Lady Wave senior
Erin Albright puts the squeeze on a pop fly at first.
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