Clover softball wins at Northwestern

After a narrow loss to Fort Mill last week, Clover High School head softball coach Shea Hall knew Monday’s game against Northwestern and pitcher Kori Wancheck was a chance to right the ship.

The Lady Blue Eagles responded with a 2-1 win.

Senior Missy Mavrogian’s game-winning RBI single up the middle and defensive gem in right field helped propel the Clover girls to the win.

Blake Wallert belted a solo homer off Wancheck in the third, staking Clover to a 1-0 lead.

“It was one of the best feelings in the world,” she said. “I wanted to get our team started. Putting it over the fence just made it that much better.”

Wallert said with Wancheck’s speed on the mound, all it takes is making contact.

“It’s gonna go far with her speed,” she said. “You’ve just got to get the bat on the ball. I believe it’s bat speed, but you gotta know when to start your swing. You’ve got to see the ball first.”

Clover pitcher Elizabeth Edmunds allowed one run on five hits.

“We always give our best for them,” Edmunds said about the region rivalry. “Everything just clicked tonight for the first time this season.

“We played as a team tonight. We haven’t really been doing that, even in practice.”

After the win at Northwestern, a Clover team that came within a scant run of advancing to the state finals last season once again will have a target on its back.

“It’s kind of scary,” said Wallert. “We’ve just got to stay focused and take the games one at a time.”

Hall spoke in positive tones after Monday’s nail-biting win.

“I’m proud of the girls to come out confident tonight, even though our confidence had been shaken a little bit,” she said. “Sometimes when things don’t go your way, you can either pout about it or you can make things happen.

“I think tonight we stepped up and made things happen,” Hall said.

Hall said the Clover team mustered up enough offense and lauded Edmunds for gutting it out.

“Elizabeth showed a lot of grit tonight, a lot of heart and dug deep,” Hall said.

Hall believes the region is as strong as ever.

“The region winner could have one, two, three losses,” she said. “There will be a good team that doesn’t make the playoffs.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Clover softball wins at Northwestern."