By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



Long-driving pro golfer John Daly was once asked how he hit the ball so far. Daly explained that he teed the ball up high, so he could hit it far. He explained the higher you get the ball, the longer you can hit it.

It’s unknown just how much Gardendale senior pitcher Kendall Thomas knows about golf, but she does understand the physics of keeping the ball low to prevent it from being hit a long way.

On Monday, Thomas kept the ball down low and she kept the Hartselle Lady Tiger’s bats quiet for most of the day in a 3-1 win. Time after time, Hartselle batters swung down at Thomas’ offerings, beating the ball in the ground. All told, the Lady Tigers hit into 13 ground outs. Eight times they grounded out to Gardendale shortstop Beth Erwin, four times to second baseman Kellie Johnson and once to Thomas.

“I thought Kendall did a great job,” Gardendale head coach Brad Myrick said. “She did a good job of keeping the ball down. She keep it down at their knees, that was the key. They hit a couple of balls well, but Kendall pitched a real good game.”

Thomas (1-0), threw a complete game four-hitter, striking out two and allowing only four balls to be hit to the outfield, two fly outs and two seventh-inning hits, a single and a double. The Lady Tigers two other hits were infield singles in the first and sixth innings.

“I think I pitched pretty good today, I know it could have been better,” Thomas said. “I was concentrating on keeping the ball low, because when we played them last year when I threw the ball waist-high, they smashed it hard. I wanted to keep the ball down and let our infield handle the plays.”

In the bottom of the first, the Lady Rocket’s offense provided Thomas with a 1-0 lead.

Erwin led off the game reaching base after being hit by a pitch. She moved to second on Kaitlyn Casaday’s sacrifice bunt. Thomas then helped herself with an RBI-single to center field for a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Gardendale would add two more runs.

After a Kayla Estes single, Erwin reached on a fielder’s choice. Casaday then reached on an infield single to give the Lady Rockets two runners on with one out. Thomas then walked, loading the bases.

Johnson then followed with a single to center field that drove home both Erwin and Casaday.

“I was looking for anything in the strike zone and I hit it right up the middle,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping to be a better hitter than I was last year and when the bases are loaded like that, I have to drive in some runs.”

The Lady Tigers finally got on the board with a rally in the top of the seventh. Michelle Fields lead off and singled to left. She then moved to second on a ground out.

Sarah Lane then hit a hot smash just inside the third base line for a double that drove home Fields, cutting the lead to 3-1.

However, the Lady Tigers wouldn’t get any closer as Thomas snuffed out the rally by inducing a pop out to first base and handling the final out herself on a grounder back to the pitching circle.

“Kendall was great, our defense played well and we hit the ball a little bit,” Myrick said. “Year in and year out, they’re one of the top teams in the state, so this is a good win.”

Although pleased with the outcome, Myrick stated he wants to see more hitting from his club. The Lady Rockets totaled five base hits for the game, but none came after the third inning.

“After the third inning, we didn’t do a good job with our pitch selection,” Myrick said. “We need to work on correcting that.”