MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- The Peabodies defeated H&SBn. 22-5 to win the 2003 Marine Corps Community Services-South Carolina Women's Intramural Softball Tournament at the Depot softball fields Aug. 26.
Producing a relentless hitting display, the Peabodies remained out of their opponent's reach the entire game, leaving H&SBn. little hope of winning a first-place trophy.
The Peabodies made short work of the H&SBn. pitcher, Karen Denham, batting in run after run. The team got an early jump on H&SBn., scoring four runs during their first at bat. It was 4-1 at the end of the first inning.
During the second inning, H&SBn. would see its only ray of sunshine of the entire evening. The Peabodies went scoreless, while H&SBn. batted in three runs. The score was 4-3 in the Peabodies favor at the end of the inning. That was the closest H&SBn. would get throughout the entire game.H&SBn. then underwent a slow, painful demise over the next few innings. As they continued to come up scoreless, the Peabodies continued to tack runs onto the scoreboard. They batted in three runs in the third inning, six in the fourth, three in the fifth and six in the seventh.
Though the loss would have no doubt been disheartening to any team, H&SBn. was just happy to be in the position they found themselves in.
"Our team did really well given the fact that we were put together without knowing anything about each other or how we played," said Stacie Brown, leftfielder for H&SBn. "I was expecting to give them a better fight, but considering we had some injured players and some that couldn't make it, I think we did okay."
When H&SBn. and the Peabodies matched up in round one of the tournament, the Peabodies only won by one run. This led H&SBn. to believe they had a fairly decent shot this second time around.
"We had been playing well and we were ready to play them," said Brown.
Even if H&SBn. had pulled out the win, the team would have had to turn right around and do the same thing again in order to win the tournament, which in all likelihood would have presented even more of a challenge.
According to an MCCS-SC spokesperson, H&SBn. was not even expected to make it
out of the semi-finals, where the team faced 4th Bn. The winner would go on to face the Peabodies in the finals, which was originally scheduled for Aug. 22.
The finals, however, were postponed when it was discovered that of some of the 4th Bn. players had conflicting schedules and would not have been able to play.
Despite the delay, 4th Bn. forfeited in the semi-finals after not enough players showed up for the game.
"They threw everyone for a loop," said Melissa Lopatka, pitcher for the Peabodies.
Whether playing H&SBn. or their season rivals, 4th Bn., the Peabodies were more than ready to be named the league champions.
"We were just on," said Pat Starr, the Peabodies' coach. "Our lead-off hitter, Dixie Hubbard, was back after wrist surgery and she really pumped everybody up. We played great defense, too. We didn't get near as many errors."
Both H&SBn. and the Peabodies plan to return next year with many of the same players.