Caywood leads Elkins to win over Lincoln
Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/63590/
LINCOLN — The Elkins Lady Elks supplied the offense to assist starter Amber Caywood at Lincoln on Thursday, but the senior needed little assistance as she pitched a one-hit shutout to lead her team to a 7-0 win.
“ The girls got aggressive on their hitting, ” Elkins coach Paula Wheeler said of her team’s 12-hit attack. “ We settled down towards the middle of the game and we were anticipating the ball before it ever got there. Overall I thought the girls did a really good job of hitting the ball. ”
Caywood gave up just a bloop, sixth-inning single to Natasha Clark for the lone Lincoln baserunner in Caywood’s 12-strikeout, complete-game performance.
Caywood seemed to use Clark’s single as motivation as she sat down four of Lincoln’s next six batters on strikes.
“ Amber pitched a great game, ” Wheeler said. “ What is great about Amber is she doesn’t want them to hit. When they do hit, she reaches back and gets a little bit more just to give them something else. ”
While Lincoln coach Karen Coleman agreed that Caywood is imposing on the mound, she implied that her team may have aided Caywood’s efforts.
“ She’s tough, ” Coleman said. “ We made her better today. We were kind of intimidated and that sometimes happens against a good pitcher. I thought we played excellent in the field. ”
Elkins (9-1, 2-0 ) came away with 5 runs in the second. The big blow in the inning was Carly Powers’ triple that brought in two of her four RBIs for the game. Hannah Powers reached on the first of three bunt singles for her on the day. Caywood and Morgan Strong added singles, and Jessica Kimball and Mandie Keith drove runs home.
“ The inning they scored 5, they got them off of hits, ” Coleman said. “ I’ll take that because you can’t do anything about that. ”
The Lady Elks added some insurance with a pair of runs in its fifth.
Considering the gusting wind conditions at times, Wheeler was more than satisfied with the error-free game her team turned in on defense.
“ Defensively we were solid, ” Wheeler said. “ Our fielders communicated really well. We went with an error-less game and I think that’s great defensively. ”
Lincoln (9-5, 7-2 ) plays host to Hartford in its next contest today at 4 p. m. Elkins is off until next Tuesday, when it travels to Pea Ridge.