THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605230217
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 41 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER
CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: HERTFORD LENGTH: 47 lines
WHEN THE Mattamuskeet High School bus left Perquimans County High School in a cloud of dust on Tuesday, the Lakers faced a long ride back to Swan Quarter.
The team had been beaten 6-0 by the Lady Pirates in the first round of the 1A state softball playoffs. Their season was over.
The Perquimans players faced perhaps a worse fate - the wrath of head coach Karen Booker, who scolded the team for 20 minutes for their lack of intensity.
The Lady Pirates were expected to handily dismantle the fifth-place team from the Tobacco Belt Conference, and although they won the game in just 40 minutes, it took a fifth inning three-run homer by Amber Curles to finally break the contest open.
Kristie Roberson, 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored, and Curles, 1-for-2 with four RBI, did most of the hitting for the Pirates.
``I'm disappointed at the motivation we had for a first-round state playoff game,'' Booker said. ``We didn't hit the ball out of the infield for three innings. They can't rely on two people to do it for them, especially in the state playoffs.''
While Mattamuskeet head coach Eddie Cahoon talked about the superior competition in the Tobacco Belt Conference, Booker said her team had lost its spark.
``Maybe it was a little bit of overconfidence. I don't know,'' she said. ``It seems like we have lost our fire. Maybe we peaked too early. If we were playing anybody who could hit the ball, we would have lost.''
Hit the ball Mattamuskeet didn't. The Lady Lakers didn't have a base runner after the second inning, let alone a hit. Their lone chance to score came in the second, when Tanya Ballance and Amy Sawyer put runners at first and third. Brianna Williams flied out to left-center, but Ballance failed to tag up. Perquimans hurler Diana Boyce struck out Becky Spencer and Natalie Berry.
The Pirates played well in the field, and the pitching performance by Boyce was impressive. But Booker wanted more hitting.
``The motivation was the biggest thing,'' she said as she stood near second base, which Mattamuskeet failed to reach after the second inning. ``I think maybe we were looking past this game to June 7 (the state championship). You're not going anywhere if you don't pay attention to what's here today.'' by CNB