North Canton Hoover Vikings at Louisville Leopards Softball 2011 Video Highlights

By Leopard Nation · Published April 19, 2011 · Updated February 19, 2019

Louisville 3, North Canton 2

The Hoover seventh inning had epic rally written all over it. Back-to-back doubles by the Vikings cut the Leopard lead to just one, but a golden glove stab by shortstop Desi Givens, and two clutch strikeouts by pitcher Brittany Flanigan ended Louisville’s struggles against North Canton by the count of 3-2.

“This team is a special team,” Head Coach Chet Givens said after Louisville’s first victory over Hoover during his tenure.

Flanigan was dominate as she struck out five and held a previously undefeated Hoover team to just four hits. In three of the seven innings her and the Leopard defense retired the side in order, and North Canton failed to get a hit during the first three frames.

On offense, the Leopards made the Vikings work. Flanigan set the tone in her first at-bat drawing a walk after working the count full. The Lady Leps’ lead-off hitter would go 2-for-3 on the night with a single and double. Louisville would get to first four times during the game without hitting the ball frustrating Viking pitcher Caly Russo.

Louisville broke open the scoreless affair in the third inning. Brooke Lehmiller, who wasn’t even on the varsity roster two games ago, got on base courtesy of Hoover third baseman Rachel Harris bobbling a normally routine ground ball. Flanigan then smashed a double that rolled all the way to the wall in center putting both her and Lehmiller in scoring position. Emily Isla followed with a bloop single to left field and Lehmiller easily beat the throw home. Isla aggressively took second sliding under the tag of second baseman MacKenzie DiPietro. Next, a passed ball allowed Flanigan to steal home standing up before another passed ball allowed the pinch-running Amy Hoover to take third. Givens then drew a walk to first before Chandler Rice tagged an infield single that scored Hoover to put Louisville up 3-0.

Back-to-Back strikeouts by Russo put a damper on the Leopard clinic, but Shelby Swigert still walked to load the bases before North Canton finally got out of it. Louisville had batted around the lineup and had a solid cushion.

The Vikings got a run back in the fourth when Erika Warren scored on a wild pitch. Warren reached base on a fielder’s choice, went from first to third on a long single by Harris, and then narrowly slid in under the tag of Flanigan. The unphased Flanigan struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

The Lady Leps threatened again in the fourth even with new pitcher Ashley Hall on the mound. Flanigan and Givens each got on with singles before Rice came up with two outs. Then a debatable play broke forth when Rice lined a shot to right-center field. The ball appeared to bounce out of the glove of Viking center fielder Sarah Wechter, yet the umpire still called Rice out. The Leps could have scored two on the play, but were forced to cling to their 3-1 lead.

North Canton threatened again in the sixth inning putting a runner on third with just one out. Flanigan sat down the next batter, but Warren followed with a screaming line drive to left field. However, that rope found the glove of Carlee Baumgardner and the Lady Leps safely moved to the bottom of the frame.

Hall struck out the side in the bottom of the inning giving Hoover some momentum heading into a wild seventh inning. Harris and Sarah Nist led off with back-to-back doubles to trim the lead to the smallest of margins. The Viking bench began to get excited and cheer louder and louder, but number seven had ice water in her veins. Flanigan K-ed up the next batter and then got Kelly Dillow to hit a hard ground ball to short. Givens vacuumed the ball into her glove and on her knees threw out Dillow by a step at first, two down.

The North Canton bench again got loud and desperately tried to distract Louisville’s star pitcher. However, seconds later that bench was quieted as Flanigan blew the high cheese by Hall to end the game. The Leopards charged in and shook hands, but excessive celebration was nowhere to be found. The Queen had been dethroned and the new queens treated it like business as usual.

PICTURES:

[Show as slideshow]

BOX SCORE:

LEOPARDS 3, VIKINGS 2

Hoover 000 100 1 — 2 4 1
Louisville 003 000 x — 3 6 0
PITCHING: Russo, Hall (5) and Warren. Flanigan and Isla. WP—Flanigan 5-1. LP—Russo 2-1. HITTING: HRs—none.
Records—Hoover 6-1, Louisville 8-1.

NEXT UP: The Lady Leps will play at home for the second straight day today (April 19), this time against the Northwest Indians at 4:30. JV will also host the Indians during the same time.

JV RESULT: Hoover 5, Louisville 1

BASEBALL

Louisville 10, North Canton 8, Suspended Top 7th

The Leopards baseball team broke a tie game with two runs in the top of the seventh and left the bases loaded with two outs before the game was suspended due to darkness.

Louisville roared out to an 8-3 lead in the third inning before letting the Vikings edge back into the game. Hoover tied the game at 8-8 on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth.

Louisville woke up to answer in the top of the seventh. Jon Crank smacked a double to put runners on second and third, before North Canton gave a free pass to Chad Neff to load the bases. Mike Kelly earned a run walked in after drawing a base on balls to give Louisville the edge. Christian Duckworth then blasted a grounder to third in which the fielder chose to throw home. Crank was safe standing up and the Leopards had a 10-8 lead and the bases were still loaded.

After a short conference, the game was called due to darkness a little before 8:00 PM.

PICTURES:

[Show as slideshow]

BOX SCORE:

LEOPARDS 10, VIKINGS 8

Louisville 125 000 2 — 10
North Canton 032 201 – — 8
~ Game Suspended in top of the 7th due to darkness. Game date to resume TBA.

NEXT UP: Louisville will host the Carrollton Warriors today (April 19) at 4:30 PM. The JV and Freshman squads will travel to Carrollton take on the Warriors and play at the same time.

JV RESULT: Louisville 7, Walsh Jesuit 5, end of the 5th (No Final Reported)

FRESHMAN: Louisville played Jackson at home (No Score Reported)

JV/FRESHMAN PICTURES: