Lancer girls surprise Leland Lancer girls surprise Leland (May 27, 2005)

O'Hearn stays composed late to gain 4-1 CCS victory

By Scott Campbell

Needing three outs for his team to secure the biggest win of its season, St. Francis coach Rob Piper paid a mound visit to his pitcher Lindsay O'Hearn. After settling on the strategy to protect the Lancers' three-run lead, Piper could hardly believe the composure of his sophomore ace.

"You know what, coach? It's past my bedtime," O'Hearn said. "'I'm usually in bed by now."

"Can you believe that?" asked Piper. "Right then, I knew that girl was relaxed."

Relaxed. Poised. And dominant. O'Hearn's complete-game three-hitter powered the Lancers to a 4-1 opening-round victory over No. 7 Leland in the CCS Division II Softball Championships on May 18.

Not that No. 10 St. Francis didn't have its share of adversity to overcome. There was the constant drizzle that made playing under the lights of Redwood City's picturesque Hawes Field challenging. And the Lancers' season-long inability to nail down the big win. And most significantly, the loss of senior stalwarts Easton Henrickson and Mollie Hoo to injuries.

"It was a huge loss, missing our seniors, but it just meant the rest of the players had to step it up," said junior left fielder Stephanie Jackson, who did just that by recording three hits and scoring twice. "We wanted to do it for the seniors."

St. Francis put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, but was unable to push across any runs. The Lancers loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Chargers pitcher Vanessa Truan induced a force-out at the plate and a strikeout to snuff the rally.

"We were stranding runners and stranding runners and I thought, 'Oh my. This is going to be another one of those games for us,'" said Piper.

But the Lancers' offense began to click in the third inning.

Jackson and Mooney singled and each advanced a base on a wild pitch. After O'Hearn grounded out for the first out, Leland appeared on the verge of emerging unscathed when St. Francis first baseman Colleen Powers flied out to center field.

But after making the catch, Chargers center fielder Kristen Rorie juggled the ball, allowing Jackson to score and Mooney to advance to third.

Before Leland (17-9) could get out of the inning, Mooney scored on an error by Chargers shortstop Christina Saenz, pushing the score to 2-0.

St. Francis narrowly avoided giving the lead right back.

After Leland catcher Jessica Talaugon led off the bottom of the third with a single, consecutive passed balls allowed her to advance to third with no outs. O'Hearn regrouped to induce a groundout and then got a strikeout.

But then a third passed ball squirted by Lancers catcher Jennifer Luders, allowing Talaugon to score and the Chargers to pull within 2-1.

A walk and an error by shortstop Megan Keefhaver kept Leland's rally alive by putting runners at the corners, but Powers gloved a hard grounder for the third out.

Following the third, O'Hearn completely shut down the Chargers' offense. The closest Leland came to a rally was in the sixth when O'Hearn allowed two walks. But a strikeout and a groundout thwarted any damage.

"[O'Hearn] did a great job out there on the mound, kept us off balance a little bit," said Leland coach Joe Gron. "We just didn't get the key hits when we needed the key hits and that's just the way it goes."

For a change, St. Francis had no such problem, as its resurgent offense picked up some insurance in the sixth.

After one-out singles by Sarah Kamenski and Jackson, Mooney came through with the elusive big hit, a two-RBI single to center.

The 4-1 lead was more than enough for O'Hearn and made for a relieved coach afterwards.

"We have been so close so many times and just couldn't ever get the right hit at the right time," said Piper. "This really was the first game in I can't remember when that we got the timely hit and the timely out. We made the good defensive plays ... everything just came together today for whatever the reason was."

Unfortunately for O'Hearn and St. Francis, the clock struck midnight on their season with a 5-0 quarterfinal loss to No. 2 Leigh on May 21. The Lancers played the defending champs tight until the Longhorns' four-run fifth inning broke open a one-run game.

St. Francis finished its season with a record of 14-12.

E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com

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