OCOEE, Fla.  (April 26) — Heading into Tuesday night’s Region 1 semifinal game against Lake Brantley, No. 4 West Orange pitcher Lauren Mathis had dominated the Lady Patriots during the 2016 season.

Mathis had recorded three consecutive shutouts against Lake Brantley, allowing just three hits total in 21 innings. But this time it was different.  Mathis and her Lady Warrior teammates needed a two-out infield RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning from catcher Maggie Wheless to defeat Lake Brantley, 2-1, and advance to Friday’s regional final.

The fourth outing against the Lady Patriots was the toughest for Mathis. Although she was cruising along with a no-hitter through six innings with five strikeouts, Mathis was barely holding on to a 1-0 lead that came courtesy of a contested run in the third inning. West Orange had taken the lead when North Carolina State-signee Jade Caraway hit a ground ball to short and benefitted from a questionable safe call at first base.  Two outs later Morgan Arcia lofted a single to center field to give the Lady Warriors a 1-0 lead.

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But West Orange failed to scratch any additional runs across the plate, leaving 12 runners stranded through six innings.  The Lady Warriors left the bases loaded in the second, third, and sixth innings and left runners stranded at second and third in the fourth.

Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, Lake Brantley’s Allie Ridinger led off the inning with a line drive home run over the left-center field wall to tie the game at 1-1.  It was the first hit of the game off Mathis.   “I didn’t really think it was that bad of a pitch.  I threw a screwball that elevated slightly and give her (Ridinger) credit, she jumped on it.”

Lake Brantley put the potential go-ahead runs on first and second later in the inning but Mathis struck out Alyssa Caballero to end the threat.

Kalie Romig started the game-winning rally with a one-out single to deep short in the bottom of the seventh.  Romig proceeded to steal second and go to third on Amanda Fleming’s groundout.  Wheless then delivered her game-winning hit to short, barely beating out a tremendous Ridinger who knocked the ball down and then nearly threw out Wheless at first.

“When she hit it, I thought it was a clean single to left and end of game and then all of a sudden the shortstop knocked it down,” a relieved West Orange Head Coach Todd LeNeave said.  “She made a great effort on the ball but Maggie was motoring down the line with everything she had.  Even if the throw was perfect, I think she had it beat out.”

LeNeave added that his team did not take advantage of their opportunities early.  “We were putting two and three runners on base every inning and just could not come up with that big hit,” he said.  “But give Lake Brantley some credit.   Emily (Baker) pitched a great game and battled to get the outs she needed.”

“Even when they tied the game in the seventh, I don’t think there was a sense of panic,” Wheless said.  “After giving up the home run, Lauren shut them down and we had a lot of confidence that we were going to score and win.” 

As for Mathis, she said her team just showed the poise and confidence it has all season long.  “Our goal is to win the ring at states, but we have taken every game one at time.  It’s extremely tough to face a good team like Lake Brantley four times in one season.  The hitters get used to how you pitch them and the margin for error is small.  But even when they tied it in the seventh, we went about our business and did what we had to for the win.”

The victory moved West Orange (ranked #1 in the latest Class 9A and All-Classification state poll) to 27-1 on the season.  They will travel to Port Orange on Friday to play #10 Spruce Creek (20-5), which upset #7 Jacksonville Mandarin in the other Region 1 semifinal. 

Written by J.D. Pearson