May slugs CCHS past Osbourn

By Shane Mettlen

Published: May 8, 2008

Culpeper County High School couldn’t get the offense going the first time the Devilettes played Osbourn. Wednesday night at CCHS that was not a problem and Culpeper avenged an earlier Cedar Run District loss, 5-0.

Catcher Sam May has been on fire since moving into the No. 4 spot in the Devilettes’ lineup last week and was nothing short of fantastic against the Eagles, finishing 2 for 2 with three runs batted in.

“Sam May has been getting a lot of singles lately,” CCHS coach Janice Gillespie said. “So I moved her up to No. 4 because I felt like I could get the top of my lineup on base. The top was getting on, we just couldn’t get them in.”

May’s hitting helped Culpeper build a 3-0 lead in the first three innings. A single in the first drove home Nichole Beall and Anna Klumpp and another single in the third scored Beall a second time. With the senior Beall in the pitcher’s circle, that lead put the Devilettes in solid shape.

“I told them I’d bet my paycheck that if we score first we are going to win the games,” Gillespie said. “The last time we played them we didn’t hit the ball and today we did hit the ball. Mentally we were more prepared than they were. It’s all in how you come out here and prepare yourselves mentally and we were 100 percent prepared.”

Beall walked Osbourn’s leadoff hitter, Lori Botkin, to start the game, then retired 14 straight Eagles batters before pitching her way out of jam in the fifth. In that inning, Osbourn get back in the game with the bases loaded and two out. But Beall got Botkin to hit an easy ground ball to third and end the threat. Culpeper added another run in the fifth and Beall drove in one more for insurance in the sixth.

“When we get runs we feel good,” May said. “We were just saying to stay up before the game because we knew we could beat them. Now we’re kind of confident.”

The victory leaves the Devilettes (13-4, 8-4) trailing only Battlefield and Loudoun Valley in the Cedar Run standings. CCHS needs a Battlefield loss to have a shot at the district’s regular season title, but Loudoun Valley visits Culpeper on Friday and a Devilettes victory could give CCHS the No. 2 seed in the district tournament.

“The big game is Friday,” Gillespie said.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or