Morgan Lane’s no longer in a slump.
Lane, the hard-hitting Girls Preparatory School first baseman, at last found her hitting groove Friday and helped the Bruisers win two early games in the Soddy-Daisy Invitational.
GPS got the day started with a 3-0 victory over Brentwood Academy and turned right around to beat gutty Marion County, 8-7, on a breezy, sun-drenched day at Clifford Kirk Stadium on the Soddy-Daisy High School campus.
The Bruisers (9-2) will play their third game in the invitational Saturday when they take on Knoxville Karns at 10:30 a.m.
When teams complete pool play Saturday, the single-elimination bracket games take place, starting at 4 p.m.
at the Soddy Lake Kids’ Park, where most of Friday’s games were played.
Later Saturday champions will be crowned in Gold and Silver bracket play. The Silver Bracket title game is set for 6 p.m. and the Gold Bracket championship showdown is slated for 7:30 p.m. Both title games will be played on Field 1.
Against Marion County, Lane completely shed the effects of a long-running slump with a home run and clutch three-run double in three at-bats.
“I’ve been in this slump for two or three weeks,” said Lane, whose second-inning sacrifice fly produced the Bruisers’ first run in the opening game. “I’ve just been trying to work through it. A couple of other girls have also been in slumps and a lot of us contributed (Friday).”
GPS coach Susan Crownover said Lane had endured more than just a slump.
“It was a major slump,” she said. “She hasn’t hit the ball well at all. We’ve had a few talks about that and she responded with a couple of pretty good games. Maybe she’s coming along now.”
The Lady Warriors (13-6-1) raked GPS starting pitcher Corey Swafford for two first-inning runs. Brooke Baxter got things rolling with a leadoff double to left-center field. After an Autumn Towery strikeout, Baxter went to third when the third-strike pitch got away from GPS catcher Katy Richardson, who retrieved the ball and threw to first for the out. Kali Bruning reached on a Kelby Crownover throwing error and Baxter scored the game’s first run.
Shayla Vandergriff, running for Bruning, reached on Crownover’s second error of the inning for a 2-0 Marion County lead.
In the second inning, GPS’ offense came to life.
Lane got things started with a long home run to center field. Abbey Anderson followed with a double off the fence in left-center. A LeeAnn Jackson fly-out to right field moved Anderson to third and she scored on Stephanie George’s wind-blown bloop double to give the Bruisers a 3-2 lead.
Swafford kept the Lady Warriors off the scoreboard for the next three innings, escaping bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth.
“The wind and sun played havoc with both teams,” coach Crownover said. “We’re looking straight into the sun and the wind was wicked. It was blowing so hard it kept moving Corey’s changeup out of the strike zone.
“That’s hard to deal with, but both teams had the same problem.”
Marion County starter Erica O’Kane, a right-handed freshman, gave up one hit to GPS over the third and fourth innings, but ran into one-out trouble in the fifth.
Successive singles by Taylor, Madison Boyd and Richardson loaded the bases.
Lane followed with her clutch double into the left-field corner to stretch the Bruisers’ lead to 6-2.
Pinch-runner Tayana Fernandez scored on a groundout and George’s single, GPS’ sixth inning in the inning, pushed home Anderson.
“Our big bats finally got some big hits,” said Crownover, who guided the Bruisers to the 2012 Division II-AA state basketball title in March. “We hit the ball instead of hitting popups or dribbling the ball through the infield. Madison and Katy and Morgan have to get big hits for us and they did in that inning.”
Marion County threatened GPS’ six-run lead in its half of the fifth.
O’Kane stroked a two-run, one-out double to left field and freshman Tori Hansard singled home a third run. O’Kane scored on Baxter’s single and Towery’s hit, the Lady Warriors’ fifth of the inning, pushed a fifth run home.
Bruning grounded out with runners at second and third and the game ended due to a 75-minute time limit.
“We’re a long way from being a good team,” said Crownover, whose softball Bruisers finished second in the 2011 Division II-AA state softball tournament. “We always want to win, but ultimately what we want now is at-bats and experience. We need to play a lot and get hitters and pitchers in a groove where everybody is comfortable with each other.”
LINESCORE
Girls Preparatory School 030 05 – 8 11 4
Marion County 200 05 – 7 12 2
Swafford and Richardson; O’Kane and Bruning.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)