By Eric Lusk
Sport Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

EAST BEND — An atypical play ended what had been a typically hotly contested Forbush-Starmount softball game Friday night.

After battling back to score the tying run in the top of the seventh inning, Starmount committed back to back throwing errors in the bottom of the 10th, allowing Forbush to push a run across for a 3-2 victory.

The Falcons, who have won 15 conference championships in a row, now hold the upper hand in their quest for a 16th straight crown, improving to 7-0 in the Mountain Valley 2A standings. The Rams dropped to 5-1, suffering their fourth one-run loss to their county rival since beating the Falcons at the end of the 2005 regular season.

“When it was on the line we made the plays,” said Forbush coach Burl Love, whose squad improved to 11-1 overall. “We gave them opportunities, and we were given opportunities. Eventually we took advantage of them.”

Being regular season conference champions this season is a huge deal. The recently released 2A state playoff brackets give the Mountain Valley champ up to four home games, provided they keep advancing. The MVAC No. 2 team likely would draw a road trip to the Central Carolina champion in round two. The Central Carolina is probably the toughest overall conference in the West, producing the state champion last season.

“That’s what we’re playing for right now, that number one seed,” Love said. “It’s a big deal.”

Forbush struck right out of the gates in Friday’s much-anticipated game with Starmount, jumping ahead 2-0 in its first at-bats.

Senior leadoff hitter Taylor Smith slapped her way aboard with a hard-hit shot right at Starmount freshman pitcher Courtney Groce. Smith beat out the throw to first, then moved to second on a sacrifice play by Ciera Cockerham.

Jessica Hinkle’s standup double scored Smith, then Hinkle came home two batters later when a pop up by Haley Pardue was dropped.

Falcon pitcher Jessica Dzeskewicz hummed along through her first three innings of work in the circle. She struck out six of the first nine batters she faced, without giving up a hit.

Chelsea Varner finally ended the no-hit bid in the fourth frame, leading off with a slap single. But Starmount hard-hitter Jana Matthews popped out, and Forbush escaped the inning by turning a 1-3-5 double play on Ashlee Handy’s at-bat.

The Forbush defense came up big again in the top of the fifth. Starmount’s Brittany White hit a rocket to left field with two outs, but fielder Paige Hauser — despite getting turned around — made a lunging catch for the final out of the inning.

Dzeskewicz’s first walk of the game, in the top of the sixth inning, led to the Rams’ first run. Rebecca Aplin took the free base, then moved to second when Maygan Baldwin moved her over with a sac bunt.

A fielder’s choice play by Carla Cave moved Aplin to third base, then Varner batted her home with a single.

With two outs, Dzeskewicz walked Matthews, then got Handy to pop out to keep the score 2-1.

Groce, who pitched a steady game after the Rams rough beginning, earned two of her seven strikeouts in the bottom of the sixth inning to keep Starmount alive. The Rams took advantage, notching the game-tying run in the top of the seventh.

Nichole Hutchens got aboard on a Forbush throwing error. Jessica White then got on after her, beating a throw to first.

A Forbush error in left allowed Hutchens to motor home for a 2-2 ball game. Starmount still had runners at second and third base with no outs.

The play of the game, at least from the Falcons’ vantage point, came next. Catcher Leslie Long, noticing a Starmount runner lingering a little too far off third base, made a snap throw to teammate Cockerham for the pick off.

That snuffed what could have been a big Starmount inning. Dzeskewicz fanned Aplin and then got Baldwin to hit into a routine ground ball out to keep things tied 2-2.

“We had our chances,” Starmount coach Heather Courts said. “We had people on and couldn‘t get them around. There were some fundamental things that we didn’t do tonight, and mistakes that we made that we hadn’t made in a long time.”

Neither defense cracked in the eighth and ninth innings, even though both teams got runners on base.

Starmount went down in order in the top of the 10th against a seemingly tireless Dzeskewicz, who had pitched a complete game the night before against Surry Central (2-0 win).

Smith led off the 10th for the Falcons. On her own accord, the senior presented her coach with a strategy suggestion, that ultimately paid off.

“She said coach I want to hit it left-handed,” Love recalled. “Not just slapping it. She said, ‘I’m going to hit it left-handed, something they hadn’t seen me do.’ She hit a hard shot over to the shortstop. The first baseman had to stretch out (to make a catch) and dropped the ball. That opened the door for us.”

Cockerham batted next and did her job, dragging a bunt into play to move Smith into scoring position. But Starmount misfired on the throw to first, trying to get Cockerham out. Then the right-fielder misfired on a throw back into the infield, and Smith was able to get all the way around to score.

A surreal ending to what had otherwise been a nip-and-tuck battle between two fierce rivals.

“It worked out well for us,” Love said. “We gave them one in the seventh and they gave us one back in the 10th.”

Dzeskewicz allowed just four hits to get the win, her seventh of the conference season. She finished with eight strikeouts, two walks and one hit batsman.

She showed little signs of slowing down despite logging so many innings in a 24-hour period.

“She prepared herself for that in the off-season,” Love said. “We talked last year that she was going to be our ace and that she was going to handle a majority of the work. Her dad said that over the last three or four years, she might take a week or two a year off from pitching. And she religiously goes to her pitching coach on the weekends just to make sure everything is going good.”

Groce had a solid line in the first of what could be many clashes with the rival Falcons. She allowed six hits and struck out seven, without giving up a walk. Groce also seemed to have a lot in the tank at the end, throwing some of her hardest pitches in extra innings.

“After the first inning, I thought she settled down,” Courts said. “That’s a big place to be when you’re a freshman. This is a big rivalry and a big match-up to be a freshman out there on the mound. I was really proud of her.”

Courts said she was proud of her team for battling back despite putting itself in a 2-0 hole right off the bat.

“I was wondering what they were going to do after that first inning,” the coach said. “My girls kept fighting, kept trying. I think nerves got a little bit of us in the beginning, and after we got going, it was a little bit too late.”

Courts, like the rest of the Starmount softball crew, is looking forward to the rematch with Forbush on May 7. That will be the final day of the regular season for both clubs — and senior night for four-year Starmount starter Jana Matthews.

“I think the next round will be a different result,” Courts said. “It will be at our place, and we’ll be ready to go. I don’t think the nerves will be there.”


Forbush 3, Starmount 2 (10 innings) Friday • at East Bend

Starmount 000 001 100 0 — 2 4 5

Forbush 200 000 000 1 — 3 6 2

WP: Jessica Dzeskewicz; LP: Courtney Groce (6-1)