Mark Sets Doubles Record at Seward

Seward County sophomore Stephanie Mark added to her
impressive list of career accomplishments this weekend as the Lady
Saints took on the Lamar Runnin’ Lopes on the road in Lamar. After a
two hit game in game one of the double header to help lead the Lady
Saints from behind in a 7-6 win, Mark was a perfect 4 for 4 in game two
of the twinbill, cracking her 39th career double to break the school’s
all-time record and collecting her 98th, 99th, and 100th career RBI’s to
make her one of just five players to accomplish that feat.

A struggling Lamar squad took the early lead in game
one, scoring a 1st inning run after a Seward error and one out single to
go ahead 1-0. The Lady Saints had their first real scoring chance of
the game in the top of the 3rd, scoring a run with two outs after back
to back singles from Stephanie Mark and Michelle Duford, to tie the game
at one, but a fly out would leave both runners on base as Lamar averted
further damage to keep it a 1-1 game. The ‘Lopes came out swinging in
the bottom of the 3rd, torching Seward pitching for three runs on three
hits and took advantage of a Lady Saints error to reclaim the lead 4-1.
Still stunned by the big inning, the Lady Saints went down without a
fight in the 4th, striking out twice in a 1-2-3 frame. Lamar led their
half of the 4th off with a triple and three pitches later a sacrifice
fly extended their lead to 5-1. Finally Seward showed some signs of
life on the offensive end in the top of the 5th as the Lady Saints
capitalized on a two out error to extend the inning and got RBI knocks
from Duford and Becky Allen to climb back to within one at 5-4. That
remained the score as the teams went to the 7th after Seward pitcher
Brittney Sharkey held the Lamar lineup in check to give the Lady Saints
a shot in the final inning. It was looking bleak for the Lady Saints as
the first two batters of the inning were retired and Lamar was just one
out away from sealing up their first win in three weeks. That’s when
Seward sprung to action. Duford doubled and Allen walked to put the
tying and go ahead runs on base. A single from Jenna Keen scored Duford
to tie the game at 5 and a single from Felisha Vogelaar on the next
pitch plated Allen to give Seward their first lead of the game 6-5.
Still with two runners on, Sierra Tadiarca singled through the left side
to bring home an insurance run for the Lady Saints to make it 7-5 and it
would prove crucial in the end. The Lady Saints committed their 5th
error of the game to start the bottom of the 7th with the game on the
line, but were able to keep that runner at first as the collected their
first two outs of the inning. However, with two outs, Maddy Chadwick
tripled to right center to score the run to make it a 7-6 game and put
herself just 60 feet away from tying the game up. After battling the
next hitter Taylor Chavez to a 1-2 count, Sharkey came up big for the
Lady Saints, inducing a ground ball to get out of the trouble and finish
out the 7-6 nailbiting win for Seward.

Duford led a 12 hit attack for the Lady Saints, going 3
for 4 with a double and 2 RBI’s while Mark and Allen each had a hit and
an RBI for the gals in green. Sharkey went the distance in the circle
for Seward, allowing 7 hits and 6 runs, 4 earned, while striking out 5
to earn her 10th win of the 2013 season.