Curran’s big night rallies TWHS back to top Oak Ridge
OAK RIDGE NORTH — After Amanda Curran rounded the bases in the fifth inning and returned to the dugout after a threerun blast that tied the game up Friday night, The Woodlands fans started chanting a phrase made popular recently by former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
‘Comeback Season’ (although Manziel uses the slang ‘SZN’ for his merchandise line) rung out onto the field.
The Woodlands came back from a rough start defensively and a four-run deficit. The Lady Highlanders then took the lead for good the following inning and took an 8-7 District 12-6A win over the Lady War Eagles.
Curran, a junior that’s verbally committed to Tennessee, absolutely blasted the ball on the game-changing play of the night. The ball hit smack dab against the Oak Ridge scoreboard in left-center field as Alayis Seneca and Skylar Sirdashney came around to score on it.
“She’s seeing the ball really well right now,” The Woodlands coach Tim Borths said. “She hit one the other night and we hadn’t really hit any in the preseason. It was good to finally see her get going. Her swing is looking real good, she’s got it dialed in and she’s seeing the ball really well. That was big for her.”
Added Oak Ridge coach Amanda Brimberry, “They do have great hitters. So if we miss piching-wise, that’s what’s going to happen. A threerun home run.”
A one-run game has been the result of six out of the last seven times The Woodlands (12-5-1, 2-0) and Oak Ridge (11-6, 1-1) have met. The Lady Highlanders earned a season sweep last year and both teams went more than three rounds deep in the postseason.
Oak Ridge took care of some costly mistakes by The Woodlands to go up 5-0 after three innings. Rhian Journey scored on an error in the second inning. Kenzie Mays and Taylor Brandon each scored on errors in the third inning as Ashley Crawford hit a ball to second base and mishap scored them both. Sam Graeten also scored on an error earlier in the frame. Brandon had an RBI single.
The Woodlands got two runs back in the top of the fourth as Sirdashney led off with a double and Curran, who was 3-for-4 on the night, knocked her home on a triple. Curran then scored on an error.
Jade Laird then created an exciting play for the Lady War Eagles. Laird bunted likely would have made to first. But the ball was thrown past the first baseman he bounded down the fence line. Laird motored all the way home to make it 6-2 Oak Ridge.
“It was exciting because I think at the plate she was getting frustrated with some of the pitches coming in on her,” Brimberry said of the moment. “I knew once it went to fence, they weren’t going to catch her.”
Borths knew Oak Ridge was the type of team would be able to take care of mistakes like that.
“Give credit to Oak Ridge,” he said. “They made us pay. They put us in those positions to make those mistakes. That’s a good ball club over there.”
The Lady Highlanders plated two more runs in the sixth to make it 8-6 on a 2-run double by Kayla Falterman.
Oak Ridge senior Haley Nillen led off the bottom of the seventh with a double. Two batters later, she scored on a groundout by Autumn Sydlik.
“Credit to all the girls,” Borths said. “They did a great job of recovering and knowing when to slow the action down. They gathered themselves up. There was one time I went to call timeout, but they had already done it. I turned around and sat back down. They had it under control.”
Freshman pitcher Emiley Kennedy went all seven innings for The Woodlands. She struck out 10 and allowed just one earned run.
The Woodlands got two hits apiece by Falterman, Seneca, Abby Jones and Abbey Newlun, who tripled in the third inning.
The Lady Highlanders face Deer Park in a nondistrict game Wednesday at 11 a.m. at home.
Brandon finished 2-for-3 at the plate for Oak Ridge. She started in the circle and lasted 5 1/3 innings with six earned runs and three strikeouts.
“We played a heck of a game,” Brimberry said. “We just had a few errors that we couldn’t come back from. We fought hard there at the end and tried to come back.”
Oak Ridge returns to action after spring break on March 20 against College Park. The Lady War Eagles have crammed 17 games into the first few weeks of the season and will take a break before the stretch run.
“It’s kind of to take a breathe from each other,” Brimberry said. “We’ve spent a lot of time together. It’s to kind of re-group and re-focus until after spring break so we can finish districts strong.”