By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY ó East Rowan seniors Haley Barrier and Lindsay Smith are good softball players, but as undercover operatives they have some stuff to work on.
Barrier and Smith tried to surprise coach Mike Waddell with a traditional Gatorade bath Wednesday afternoon, but Waddell saw them coming and took evasive action in right field After a brief chase, the Mustangs managed to soak his red T-shirt from the shoulders down.
“We tried to be covert,” Barrier said. “But it’s hard to sneak up on someone when you’re carrying a bucket that far across the infield. We were sort of out in the open.”
East didn’t sneak up anyone this season, but it successfully defended its NPC championship. It closed the door with an 8-0 breeze against South Rowan at the East diamond.
The formula was familiar. Sophomore Chelsea White pitched a one-hitter, and her teammates were efficient offensively and defensively. Ericka Nesbitt, Barrier and Meagan Kluttz had two hits each to lead a 10-hit attack.
East (17-2, 16-2) finished one game ahead of Northwest Cabarrus.
“We’re greedy and wanted the championship all to ourselves,” Barrier said with a smile. “Chelsea’s just had an ungodly year for strikeouts, and we hope we can go far.”
East scored four runs in the first inning, bunching three walks with singles by Ericka Nesbitt, Barrier, Mallory Drew and Kluttz.
Staked to a 4-0 lead, White is a sure thing. South only had three baserunners. Taylor Lookabill reached on an error in the second. Kayla Corriher was struck by a pitch in the third. Senior Desirae Overcash, batting for the last time in her career, steered a clean single through the right side to break up White’s no-hitter with two out in the sixth.
South hitters also scorched back-to-back liners in the fifth, but East outfielders Smith and Winter Heno made nice plays.
White struck out 11 and surpassed 200 strikeouts for the season.
“I felt fine,” said White, who was a little sore last week. “We’ve got a really good team, and a lot of people came through with hits today.”
Overcash pitched well in relief for the Raiders (6-13, 6-12) until East lined five hits in the sixth to tack on four more runs. Kluttz and Kayla Kirk found gaps for doubles.
East went a decade without a league championship, but it’s now pulled out two titles in a row in a 10-team conference with many good programs.
“What sticks out is we started 3-2 (early losses at West Rowan and Northwest), but then we pulled it together,” Waddell said. “We had a talk after that loss at Northwest, and since then we’ve been able to work through a lot of stuff, including several injuries. We do have that dominant pitcher, and that helps you relax a little bit.”
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NOTES: South began the year 3-1 but missed the playoffs. West Rowan nailed down the No. 6 seed with Tuesday’s 7-6 win against Carson. “I think we were a lot better than the record shows, but we lost a lot of close games,” South coach Tiffany Poole said. “Player for player, we were as good as most teams. Desirae will be tough to replace, but this could be a strong team next year.” … East has the opportunity to stay at home ó where it hasn’t lost this season ó all the way to the Final Four. … East opens the playoffs next week against the SPC No. 5 seed.. … East’s Taylor Arey, out for weeks with a wrist injury, played center field.