Indians crowned

By Dana Jones Correspondent
Published: May 7, 2008

FORT DEFIANCE — Stuarts Draft’s early mistakes helped Fort Defiance clinch an 8-6 victory and, more importantly, the Southern Valley District title on Wednesday.
The first inning started out rough for the Cougars, giving up errors and runs. After Fort walked Draft’s leadoff batter, Amber Christy, they quickly made up for it with a double play on the next batter, Lindsay Iseli. Another quick out and the Indians were ready for the plate.
The Indians lead off with Tiffany Lockridge who, on the first pitch, bunted. When the Cougars made the throw to first it shot wide allowing Lockridge to reach second. Fort’s Brooke Sigrist then dug in and grounded to second, but Draft let it roll into the outfield and allowed Lockridge to score.
The Indians’ Courtney Allman then flew out to center field but advanced Sigrist to second base. Power-hitter Brittany Davidson was walked, followed by Jessica Hogle who hit a double, but it was Jessica Clifton whose hard hit RBI sent Sigrist and Davidson across the plate. With the score at 3-0, the Cougars again stepped up to the plate only to be shut down by the Indian defense. 
The second inning soared by with three-up, three-down from both sides. Fort scored one more run in the third inning from a Lindsey Shifflett RBI.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the Cougars bats awoke. After a walk, a strike out and a throw out, Draft finally made contact. With Brittany Wright on first, Courtney Lucas ripped one to right field, which was helped along by an Indian error, and advanced Wright to score. Three more RBI from Erin Brown, Ariel Christy and Amber Christy tied the score at four.
“They made some plays and hit the ball,” said Fort coach Max Hill. “We had some balls that fell in front of us. They didn’t hit it far but they hit it where they needed to.”
The Indians answered back with a Sigrist double who was then moved around the bases off a walk and scored from a Davidson single.
In the fifth inning, Fort stopped Draft’s hitting with a pitching change, Hogle for Davidson.
“When they were hitting those bloopers you got to do something to stop their momentum,” Hill said.
Fort’s Sigrist, Allman and Davidson scored the final three runs in the sixth. With the score at 8-4 the Cougars were still looking to come back, and they almost did in the seventh inning. Two RBI from Sabrina Desper and Wright advanced Amber Christy and Iseli to score the last two runs, both with two outs on the board. Draft couldn’t come back.
“I’m still taking it all in,” said Draft coach Michelle Campbell. “I’m really proud of the girls, they played really well. The hardest battle is getting them to believe in themselves.”
Fort Defiance (14-4, 7-0) heads to Spotswood on Friday and finish up the district season with R. E. Lee on Tuesday. Stuarts Draft (9-8, 5-2) hosts Rockbridge on Friday, its last district game and senior night.
Notes: The Indians celebrated senior night Wednesday and will see one senior off, Brittany Davidson.