Thursday, May 10, 2007

Roosevelt beats Eagles, tunes up for playoffs

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Raphael Talisman⁄The Gazette
High Point catcher Jackie Chicas takes a swing during Saturday’s game against Eleanor Roosevelt. The Eagles open the playoffs Monday against either Laurel or Suitland.
Soon after Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s softball team rallied to upend visiting High Point Saturday afternoon in Greenbelt, it was difficult to ascertain which coach had actually been on the better end of the 9-7 score.

Roosevelt (15-2) will head into the 4A South Region tournament as the No. 2 seed and has won nine straight games since an 11-0 setback at Bowie last month. But the Raiders’ high seed and recent win streak have hardly impressed longtime coach Billy Hunter. Roosevelt has won five 4A South Region titles under Hunter and advanced to the state championship game on three occasions.

‘‘We definitely have to get better in a lot of areas,” Hunter said. ‘‘We’re not hitting the ball that well and we’re making too many mistakes in the field. We’re not where I’d like to be.”

While his team heads into the postseason with two straight losses and only three wins in its last eight outings after starting the season 9-0, High Point coach Ricardo Hernandez quickly whisked aside the spattering, cold raindrops that arrived at game’s end on Saturday.

‘‘Even though we lost, I like where we’re sitting going into the playoffs,” Hernandez said. ‘‘Erica [Frias] has done a nice job on the mound for us. She’s not going to overpower anybody, but she throws strikes and usually keeps the ball down. Our hitting has been solid all season. Our infield played well. We had one bad inning where we let it slip away, but other than that we were pretty good.”

On Roosevelt’s most youthful team during Hunter’s 20 seasons, left fielder Eva Richardson, who bats in the cleanup spot, is the team’s lone senior.

Roosevelt has won all but one contest since sophomore pitcher Erin Cocciaro returned from an injury. Saturday, the young hurler overcame a rough start to keep the Eagles off the board over the last three innings. Cocciaro allowed seven runs (four earned) on six hits and seven walks and made just enough good pitches in key situations.

‘‘Erin did a really good job,” Richardson said. ‘‘She’s done well since she came back. Her arm was bothering her earlier in the season, but she’s pitched well for us since coming back. We’re really looking forward to the playoffs. We’d like to see Bowie again in the region final.”

High Point scored one run in the first on a one-out double by Alyssa Cartiledge, but she and Mallory Amaya were stranded. Roosevelt countered with two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning, but High Point tied the game in the top of the second. Roosevelt followed with a three-run second, benefiting from singles by Brianna Driscoll, Lindsey Hood, Erin Snyder and Cocciaro and three errors by Eagles’ left fielder Lauren Sanders. High Point responded with four runs in the third, getting a leadoff walk from Jackie Chicas and a double by Amaya. Both scored on an error by center fielder Chantal Petty. After Cartiledge walked and Minnie Mekonen reached on an error by Olivia Tacconelli at first, Frias helped her own cause with a single that plated Cartiledge. Mekonen later scored on a wild pitch.

After High Point added another unearned run on Petty’s second error in center, Roosevelt responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cocciaro drilled a one-out single that caught Frias in the stomach, Richardson reached on an error and then Megan George singled home Cocciaro. After Lindsey Gignac doubled, Petty atoned for her two errors with a double.

High Point had threatened to score in each of the last three innings, but Cocciaro wiggled out of the jam each time. She walked the first two batters in the fifth before getting the next three to fly out. Richardson made a running catch to end the sixth with a running in scoring position, then Cocciaro struck out Chicas swinging to end the contest.

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.

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