Jack Britt beats Cape Fear to keep Colts from clinching regular
"Seeing them get nervous, I get nervous," Harris said. "I started doing silly stuff to knock it out of me, like wiggling my arms weird. During the huddle, I started screaming really loud to knock it all out."
Jessica Crist knocked a ball out of the park to set an early tone on senior night, and Harris' prolific offensive performance pushed Britt to an 11 1 victory in five innings.
Cape Fear, which won 11 5 in the first meeting of rivals a month ago, could have clinched an outright Mid South 4 A Conference title. Instead, the Colts (18 3, 10 1) must beat South View on Friday Fitflop Walkstar 3 to share first place with the Buccaneers (17 3, 11 1).
"When they came to (play) us, it's about a flip flop of that," Cape Fear co coach Jeff McPhail said. "Just reverse that game."
The Colts entered a weekend tournament in Wilmington with an unbeaten record and dropped two of three games. Lackluster defense paved the way for another humbling defeat.
Britt, which committed 10 errors in its early April loss at Cape Fear, took advantage of five errors, two wild pitches and a passed ball in the rematch.
"The first loss was so early in the season, and we did so much wrong," Britt coach Sebrina Wilson said. "Everybody said, 'How do you recover?' It wasn't recover. It was refocus."
Britt honored six seniors prior to the opening pitch, and ace McKenzie Weaver retired Cape Fear in order to begin the game.
Bria Jones singled with two away in the bottom of the first, and Crist's long drive off Beth Blackburn cleared the fence while flirting with the left field foul pole.
"It motivated me; then I knew I was in it," Crist said. "It made everybody want to hit the ball. If I could do it, they could do it, too."
Harris cleared the bases and scored herself following a much softer swing in the third inning.
With speedy Markel Wylie on first, Harris put down a bunt. The ball bounced to Blackburn, whose throw to second was late and high.
Wylie and Harris raced around the bases as the ball rolled toward the center field fence, with both players scoring for a 4 0 lead.
Harris was starting to feel fatigued even before Wilson waved her home from third.
"I got really happy," Harris said. "My adrenaline got higher trying to make it safe."
Crist added an RBI single in the third, and Harris delivered a two run double during a four run fourth. She ended the game with a two run single in the fifth.
Weaver took a no hitter into the top half of that inning, but Cape Fear used two singles and an RBI groundout to end the shutout bid.
"If you come to play Sebrina's team and you're not ready," Cape Fear co coach Mack Page said. You must have a Facebook account and be logged in to Facebook to post your comment below. Your comment is subject to Facebook's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service on data usage. Your comment will appear on our site and on your Facebook page unless you uncheck the "Post to Facebook" box. We Fitflop Luna expect users to maintain a civil discourse. If fitflops you believe a comment is inappropriate, you may click the X in the upper right corner to send an abuse report to Facebook. Want to know more? Check out our FAQ.