2007 Softball

From the Hurricane Valley Journal
By: Michael Rinker
The first inning would tell the tale in last Thursday’s softball game between the Tigers and visiting Richfield.
In the top half of the inning, the Wildcats went down in order as Jordan Ha struck out two of the three batters she faced. The junior hurler then turned hitter and cracked an RBI base hit in the bottom of the inning after her teammates set her up with a lead-off single, a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt.
And that was pretty much the script for the rest of the game as Ha went on to shut out the Cats, allowing just three hits in the Tigers’ 3-0 victory.
She had three hits herself and, in addition to driving in the first run, scored the second and drove in the third.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Ha led off with a single to left, advanced to second on a passed ball then scored on a double to left center.
With two outs in the fifth, Tigers shortstop Chantelle Whiting ended up on third after Richfield’s left fielder couldn’t get to her shot down the line. Ha followed with a line drive to left that took a bad hop and ricocheted off the outfielder’s face into left center. Play was stopped for several minutes while the shook-up Wildcat was attended to, but she stayed in the game.
Ha was so dominant on the mound that she faced the minimum number of batters through five innings, striking out seven in that span. (She gave up a leadoff single in the third, but the runner was thrown out trying to steal.)
Richfield made its move in the sixth. With one out, Ha gave up a two-strike hit but then struck out the next batter. The Wildcats, however, followed with a double to the fence in left center, putting two runners in scoring position and bringing the potential tying run to the plate. The batter ripped a sinking liner to center, but the Tigers’ outfielder got a great jump on it and snagged the ball just inches above the turf.
In the final inning, Ha shrugged off an infield error that put a runner at first with one out, and closed out the game to pick up the shutout.
Hurricane had nine hits in the win, which improved its record to 2-0.
After the Tigers host Parowan on March 19, they travel to Moapa March 25 and return home the next day to play Emery.

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