Lady Warriors upset Calvin in quarterfinals

SULPHUR - Northside Christian coach Ryan Hanagriff felt that if his team could just get out the gates quickly Friday that the Lady Warriors would have a good chance in their Class C quarterfinal playoff game against No. 3 Calvin at Frasch Park.
  Boy, was he ever right.
The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, sealed things with a big fifth-inning uprising and went on to shock the Lady Cougars, 16-6 in five innings.
The victory sent the Lady Warriors into Saturday’s semifinals against No. 7 Starks.
“We knew we would have a good chance if we could just jump out early on them and get the pitcher rattled a little bit and that’s exactly what we did,” said Hanagriff, whose team entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed. “We knew that they struggled a little bit defensively and (we knew) that if we could put  the ball in play that we had a good chance to score. And we did that in the very first inning.”
The Lady Warriors put pressure on the Lady Courgars from start to finish by pounding out 17 hits in the victory. Eight of those hits, four of which were doubles, came in an eight-run fifth inning that put the game away.
Northside Christian led 8-3 heading into the top of the fifth inning before Leah Monte’s leadoff single sparked an offensive outburst that lead to 13 Lady Warriors going to the plate before the third out.
Zera Hanagriff followed with a single before Brooke Stanford drew a walk to load the bases for Meghan Jones, who delivered an RBI single. Zoie Hanagriff then doubled to drive in a pair of runs and Katelyn Jones drove in two more with a single.
Madisyn Clement added an RBI single before Monte logged her second hit of the inning, a run-scoring double. Zera Hanagriff closed out the inning with an RBI double to gave the Lady Warriors a 16-3 cushion.
“We had big hits from a few girls tonight, but from top to bottom, our whole lineup hit the ball,” said Ryan Hanagriff. “The bottom of our lineup really hit well and I think that was the difference.
“Their pitcher had a really good changeup and we did a good job of adjusting to that. We picked it up out of her hand and when she threw a strike, we jumped on it.”
Clement, who had two doubles and two RBI, also was the winning pitcher. She scattered nine hits on the day while walking three and striking out one.
“Madisyn did a great job out there today,” said Ryan Hanagriff. “She hit her spots and limited her walks. They (Calvin) got a few hits but we were able to shut the heart of their lineup down and that was big. And we only made one error, so we played some really good defense.”
Katelyn Jones paced the Lady Warriors at the plate with a 3-for-5 performance that included a double and five RBI. Zoie Hanagriff and Leah Monte each had three hits and two RBI as well.
Clement had two doubles and a pair of RBI while Sydni Guidry and Zera Hanagriff each had two hits, including a double each. Meghan Jones added a single and an RBI while Stanford rounded out the onslaught with a triple.
Hannah Dupree led Calvin with two hits while Madeline Carpenter had a double and two RBI in the losing effort.