By Adam MacDonald
VALDOSTA — The Lady Blazers’ record setting season continues because of their record setting shortstop.
Freshman Marti Littlefield hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to propel the Valdosta State softball team (57-6) to a 5-4 win over the Nova Southeastern Sharks in the championship game of the second South Regional bracket on Sunday.
The Lady Blazers advance to the Super Regional next week at Alabama-Huntsville, the champion of the first South Regional bracket. The Lady Blazers are one of 16 teams remaining in the Division II softball tournament.
“It’s always great to be on the winning side,” VSU head coach Thomas Macera said. “They always say a game is fun, but I don’t ever recall having fun losing. It’s been a long road for us. It’s been tough.”
The Sharks took their first lead of the game, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning when cleanup hitter Lauren Lopez reached first on an error at first by Stephanie Carlson which allowed Noemi Luciani to score from second.
With one out, one on and the game on the line in the top of the seventh, Littlefield cracked her 25th home run of the season to right field to retake the lead for the Lady Blazers, 5-4.
“I was pretty anxious earlier in the game. I think that’s why I had two kind of off at-bats,” Littlefield said. “I kind of relaxed my third and fourth at-bats and stayed within myself...I felt it hit off the sweet part of the bat. I felt it as soon as I hit it.”
Macera said, “I called the whole team into the huddle at the top of the seventh inning and told them it’s our time to do it. We’re at the top of the order. We’ve hit 95 home runs and most of that’s been generated at the top. I knew we were due. I told Marti when she came up to bat not to press and swing through the ball. She settled in, and they threw her an out pitch that hasn’t landed yet.”
Brianna Collis, pitching in relief, recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to send the Sharks packing and the Lady Blazers to a championship.
“When we brought Brianna off the bench to close out a game this season she hasn’t lost,” Macera said. “If we have taken a lead and brought her in she’s been lights out. That’s why they call her Bree-fence because she’s going to get you routine outs.”
Collis picked up her second win in as many days against Nova. After pitching six innings Saturday, she threw the final 1 1-3 innings Sunday. She gave up two runs, one earned, and five hits while striking out four to improve to 17-1.
“They did kind of get one off me,” Collis said. “I tried to hit my spots and be smart and get ahead on counts. They kind of pressed because they needed a run so I moved the ball around and hoped they could hit something for our defense to handle. That’s all I was looking to do.”
Nova’s Lexi Sarradet lost to Collis for the second day in a row. Sarradet went the distance and gave up just one run Saturday, but the Lady Blazers roughed her up for five runs, four earned, and eight hits on Sunday.
Carlson gave the Lady Blazers a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run homer, her 13th of the year.
In the bottom of the second, Carlson dropped the third out of the inning at first base. The Sharks responded by loading the bases and scoring on Rachel Talenfeld’s RBI single to make it 2-1.
VSU made it 3-1 in the fourth when April Hutchens singled into center and Amber Shaw came home from third on a wild throw back to the infield by center fielder Patty Rivero.
The Lady Blazers’ 3-1 lead didn’t last long. In the bottom of the fourth, VSU starter Holly Satterfield walked the first batter of the inning. She was replaced by Margaret Carter who got a sac bunt that moved the runner to second. Carter then gave up an RBI single to Noemi Luciani to make it 3-2.
Lopez tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth will a solo homer to center off of Collis.
Collis ran into more trouble in the sixth. Luciani reached on an infield single, the seventh infield single of the day for the speedy Sharks, and moved to second on a single by April Donachie.
That’s when things got crazy.
With two outs and Luciani on second, Lopez grounded to Littlefield at short who threw to Carlson at first, but Carlson dropped the ball and Lopez was safe. Luciani never stopped around third and slid safely into home to give Nova a 4-3 lead.
“We should have been out of the inning,” Macera said. “Nova’s scrapped all year. They have good pitching, not something that’s going to blow your ears back, but they’re like us in that they’re not going to quit. They will scrap you to the very end.”
If Nova had been able to hold the lead, the teams would have played again 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Since the tournament was double elimination and the Lady Blazers were 2-0 coming into Sunday, the Sharks needed to beat VSU twice.
However, they never got to the second game because of Littlefield’s homer.
“That home run put us over the top and gave everybody confidence to finish off that game,” Collis said.
Littlefield was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“It feels great,” Littlefield said. “It takes a lot of hard work. I couldn’t do it without the team and without the coach and staying within myself. All I can do is play my heart out.”
Collis, Satterfield, Hutchens, Carlson, Melessa Jackson and Littlefield were named to the all-tournament team.
Now the Lady Blazers get the tough task of trying to beat Alabama-Huntsville in Huntsville, Ala., in a best 2-of-3 series. The first game is scheduled for Friday at a time to be determined. The winner of that series goes to nationals. VSU and UAH split two games this season played in Valdosta in April.
“Huntsville is Huntsville. They’re a solid team,” Macera said. “They swing it like we do, they have good pitching, it’s Huntsville. Back in September, October I honestly said and believed it was going to be between us and Hunstville to go to nationals this year. That’s what it’s come down to.”
