Angels take second at sub-district

By Andy Brown

Published: July 3, 2008

The Eufaula Dixie Angels had three goals heading into the Sub-District 2 tournament in Troy.

The first goal was to play hard and have fun. The second was to still be playing when Tuesday rolled around and the third was to bring a trophy home to Eufaula.

The squad accomplished all of its goals. An 11-0 loss to Ozark in the tournament’s championship game ended Eufaula’s season Tuesday night, but all in all, head coach Eddie Thomas considers the team’s tournament run a success.

“I’m so proud of these girls,” Eddie Thomas said. “They did a great job. They played hard and they had fun. What more can you ask? They did everything we asked them to do. This is just a great group of kids.”

In the end, a tournament title just wasn’t in the cards for Eufaula.

“We didn’t play bad,” Thomas said. “Actually, we hit the ball as well as we have ever hit it. I mean, we hit some balls hard, but we hit them right at (the Ozark players). I bet Carly Whitehead hit a fly ball 180 feet, but she hit it right at a girl and she made the catch.

“Tuesday night Ozark just played a better game than we did. I’m not sure they are a better team than we are, but they were on Tuesday night.”

Shelley Beaty led the Eufaula offense with a 2-for-2 effort that included a double and a single. Jazzlyn Purswell, Ilyssa Easton and Murray Margaret Price each had a hit in the loss. 

Eufaula advanced to the championship round by scoring a 6-5 win against the Dothan National – a team that had topped Eufaula 2-1 in eight innings Friday.

“That was our revenge game,” Eddie Thomas said.

Early on it looked like Dothan might run away with the win.

Eufaula trailed 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

“We just looked dead,” Thomas said. “We were flat. We needed something to spark us.”

That something turned out to be a spectacular catch from outfielder Payton Jones.

“That was really the difference,” Thomas said. “She made an incredible catch with one out and that kind of got us going.”

When Eufaula got back up to the plate, it answered with six runs to take a one-run lead.

Purswell, Easton, Whitehead, Jones, Price, Abby Thomas, Emma Tyler and Laura Turchiano each had a hit during the rally to help Eufaula tie the game at 5-all.

Then Emily Wurst delivered the biggest blow of the inning when she smacked a double to plate the game-winning run.

Eufaula then held Dothan scoreless in the final at bat to secure the win.

“It was a huge hit,” Thomas said. “Payton got the rally started with her catch and them Emily finished it with her hit. It was a great win. The girls really played hard and they never quit.”

Team members included Nikki Clark, Sydney Dowling, Abby Thomas, Bryanna Harris, Beaty, Easton, Jones, Price, Purswell, Turchiano, Tyler and Wurst.

The team was coached by Eddie Thomas, Chris Turchiano and Timmy Ingram.