GUNTERSVILLE LADY WILDCATS
2008 MARSHALL COUNTY
CHAMPIONS
The Guntersville JV Wildcats captured the first fastpitch softball county championship in school history Tuesday with a decisive 10-5 victory over the Douglas Eagles. The JV Cats defeated Albertville and Boaz on Monday, and defeated Douglas to advanced to the Championship Game Tuesday night. Douglas defeated Albertville in the loser's bracket and returned to play Guntersville for the Championship.
In the Winner's Bracket Finals, Kaitlyn Bannister pitched a no-hit shutout as the Cats advanced to the Championship Game with a 3-0 victory. Bannister struck out 9 and walked 4 batters. Guntersville got started early as Jessy Baker reached on an Eagle error and Deanna Creps drilled a double to centerfield to score Baker. After advancing to third on a passed ball, Creps tagged up on a sac fly by Bannister to give the Cats a 2-0 lead after one. Guntersville would add the third and final run in the second inning when Laney Hardin singled and later scored on a Jessy Baker hit. Three runs were all the Cats needed to secure a place in the finals.
| GUNTERSVILLE | vs. Douglas (G1) | |||||
| Batting | ||||||
| PLAYER | HITS | AT BATS | RUNS SCORED | RBIs | HR (#) | |
| Jessy Baker | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Deanna Creps | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Kaitlyn Bannister | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Bryneth Buckner | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Laney Hardin | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Pitching | ||||||
| INNINGS PITCHED | HITS | RUNS | ER | K | BB | |
| Kaitlyn Bannister | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 |
In the Championship Game...
...neither team could get anything going offensively until the 3rd. With two outs the Cats rallied for 4 runs on 5 consecutive hits by Hardin, Baker, Creps, Bannister, and Langner. Hardin, Baker, Creps and Bannister all crossed the plate for Guntersville, and the Lady Cats had a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd. Douglas would get one run back on consecutive hits from Bonds and Smith.
In the 5th, Deanna Creps reached on an error, and Bannister and Langner both walked. Creps and Bannister would steal bases and advance on passed balls to score two runs and Peyton Whitaker drove in Langner to give the JV Cats a small cushion at 7-1. S McClendon reached on a Wildcat error and eventually scored on a passed ball to make the score 7-2, heading into the 6th.
To open the 6th, Jessy Baker hit an infield single, and Creps and Bannister both walked to load the bases. Bethany Langer hit a 2-1 pitch to right field to score Baker and Creps. Bannister eventually scored on a wild pitch to end all scoring for Guntersville. For Douglas, H Davis and F Smith both walked in the inning and S Baker followed with a single to right field which scored both Eagle baserunners. J Smith doubled in the 7th and teammate H Davies drove Smith home to end all scoring at 10-5.
Kaitlyn Bannister gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks with 8 strikeouts. For the day, she struck out 17 batters and finished with 41 strikeouts over the four tournament games. Bannister improves to 10-1 on the season to lead all Guntersville JV pitchers. Bryneth Buckner is currently 5-1 and will start the game at DAR tomorrow. Cara Lee Mason (did not play in JV County Tournament--on varsity roster) is 3-1 at the JV level and 2-2 in varsity games.
| GUNTERSVILLE |
(Championship Game)
|
|||||
| Batting | ||||||
| PLAYER | HITS | AT BATS | RUNS SCORED | RBIs | HR (#) | |
| Jessy Baker | 2 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Deanna Creps | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Kaitlyn Bannister | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Bethany Langner | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Laney Hardin | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Morgan Earp | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Lauren Wise | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Peyton Whitaker | 1 | |||||
| Pitching | ||||||
| INNINGS PITCHED | HITS | RUNS | ER | K | BB | |
| Kaitlyn Bannister | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
The Lady JV Cats improve to 19-3 on the season and will conclude the 2008 campaign on Wednesday at DAR starting at 4:00.