Comets, FC Square Off Thursday For District Title

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
For the second time in three years, the Western Valley District girls softball championship will be settled between Halifax County High School and Franklin County High School.
The two teams tied for the regular-season Western Valley District title and will square off Thursday at 5 p.m. in Danville in a playoff game that will decide the regular-season championship and the district’s top seed and a home game in the first round of the Northwest Region Tournament.
Halifax County won the first meeting between the two teams 2-0 but lost to Franklin County 4-2 when they met at HCHS May 6.
“You’ve got two evenly matched teams going head-to-head wanting win that game and get that home field advantage for the Northwest Region Tournament,” said Comets head coach Melanie Saunders.
“Both teams are going to want it very badly. It’s just going to be a matter of who gets that key hit when they need it and make the (defensive) play when they need it. It’s going to be a good game to watch.”
The Comets and Franklin County are no strangers when it comes to playoff games. In 2006, the Comets edged Franklin County 7-6 in a game that went nine innings to win the regular-season championship. Franklin County, however, bounced back to edge the Comets in the championship game of the district tournament.
Last year, Franklin County won the regular-season championship and the Comets bounced back to win the district tournament.
“You rarely have two teams that are so evenly matched,” Saunders pointed out.
“Up there (at Franklin County), when we won 2-0, we had two hits and they had one hit. When they (Franklin County) came here, we had 10 hits and they had eight. We’re even all around on the field as well as at the plate.”
Saunders said her Comets team is ready for the challenge. A game the Comets were scheduled to play today against Tunstall High School was cancelled, leaving her team with two days of rest and preparation for Franklin County.
“The last time we played Franklin County they (the players) were so psyched up and so wound up tight,” Saunders pointed out.
“The big thing for Thursday is to be relaxed. It’s a ballgame. It’s an important one, but we’ve been practicing and playing all year. We’ve just got to get it done.”
The key to her team’s success, Saunders noted, is being able to come up with hits at key times in the game.
“We both hit the ball well,” Saunders said.
“Getting the hit with runners on (base) is the key. The last game, they (Franklin County) hit with runners in scoring position and we didn’t. We got the runners on (base), we just couldn’t get that hit we needed to score them. We also weren’t able to put a couple of bunts down and advance runners. The fundamentals is what we’ve got to come back to and make work for us.”
Saunders hopes her team’s bats will be as lively Thursday as they were in Monday’s regular-season finale against GW. The Comets produced 19 hits in a 14-0 rout of GW. That was quite an improvement from the team’s previous outings when it struggled at times at the plate.
“Hopefully, we won’t get flat at the plate,” Saunders remarked.
“Hopefully, we will get the hits when we need them and will continue to play defense behind our pitchers like we have been, If we do that, we’ll be fine.”