Lady Orange Crush musters runner-up finish in Morristown

from staff reports
The Lady Orange Crush traveling softball team from Elizabethton finished second this weekend in a Morristown 19-and-under tournament.
The 16-and-under Crush split with the Lady Angels before losing the third game in extra innings 5-4.
On Saturday, the Crush swept three straight games, allowing only five hits with no run scored.
In the first contest Kristie Keys took the 8-0 victory from the mound over the Silver Bullets, allowing only one hit.
Keys went 2-for-2 at the plate while Katie Hubbard batted 2-for-3, Mikael Oliver 1-for-1, Lana Blevins 1-for-1, Jessica Robinson 1-for-2 and Mary Edgar went 1-for-2.
In the second contest, Robinson took the 9-0 victory for the Crush over the Lady Dreamers, allowing only three hits in five innings.
Robinson and Blevins led the sticks with 2-for-2 performances, with Edgar going 2-for-3, and Maggie Austin, Sarah Ruston and Keys 1-for-2 apiece.
In the third contest for the day, Edgar took a no-hit victory over the Bullets 5-0. Edgar helped her cause with a 2-for-3 game at the plate. Keys and Hubbard were tops, with both players going 3-for-3.
Sunday, the Crush defeated the Angels in a hard fought 2-1 contest. Keys took the victory from the mound, allowing two hits, but the Angels came back to defeat the Crush in the second contest 5-3, scoring all five runs in the fifth inning.
In the final game, the Crush lost the extra-inning contest 5-4, collecting 10 hits. They got an early lead, scoring two runs in the first inning and holding the lead until the seventh, when the Angels scored two runs with two outs on a pair of errors, knotting the game and forcing an extra inning with the International rule in effect.
The Angels scored three runs in the extra inning while the Crush scored two. Robinson took the hard-fought loss for the Crush, allowing only four hits.
The Orange Crush has played approximately 30 games in six tournaments. The latest tournament in Morristown proved to be the strongest effort from the Crush to date, finishing a hard fought second place.
The team was organized in an effort to grow the Elizabethton High School Lady Cyclone softball program to a state championship level.
The Crush is coached by Tim Keys, Robbie Edgar, Mike Hubbard and Charlie Robinson along with Amy Richardson, trainer.
The coaches are working to bring the level of play at EHS to compete with conference rivals such as Happy Valley and Unicoi.
"We are a very young team with girls ranging in age from 13-16 competing with much older girls," Charlie Robinson said. "We feel playing weekend tournaments facing much older and experienced players will enhance the level of play at EHS The Crush is built around strong pitching, defense, batting, speed and most of all, heart for the game."
The Orange Crush will travel to Marion, N.C. July 25-27.