Lake Wales, Conroy shuts down Lemon Bay in state semifinals
CLERMONT — Anna Conroy bounced back from control issues that plagued her in her last out with Lake Wales playing stellar defene behind her. Zamya McBurrows displayed her speed, power and defensive prowess that makes her one of the best players in the state, and Lake Wales got a big hit from one its middle of the order batters and also from the bottom of its lineup.
When the Highlanders have all that on display, they're hard to beat, and that certain was the case in their 5-0 victory over Englewood Lemon Bay on Wednesday morning.
Lake Wales (20-11) will play for the state title at 1 p.m. on Thursday against the Key West Wakulla winner. The game was moved up from 4:30 p.m. in hopes of avoiding late afternoon rain that has plagued the tournament this week.
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Conroy will be pitching in the state championship game for the second straight year. Last year, she came on in relief of starter Macey Murphy. This year, she will get the start.
Against Lemon Bay, Conroy set the tone for the Highlanders with her brilliant performance. She faced just three over the miniumum number of batters as she pitched a one-hitter and walked just two batters. She struck out four.
"I felt confidence from my teammates and I appreciate that, so I wasn't nervous," Conroy said. "I just hit my spots."
In her last outing against Lake Region in the regional finals, she struggled with her control and lasted 1/3 of an inning.
"We have all the confidence in the world in Anna," Lake Wales coach Mike Settle said. "She had a rough outing in her last game, but she put the work in hard since then and had a good bullpen this morning."
Behind Conroy, Lake Wales played errorless softball. Lydia Denton was a vacuum cleaner at third base, McBurrows snagged a line drive in the first inning that stole a hit and Kiera Davis made a nice running catch in center field.
"The defense was just solid," Settle said.
Lake Wales made Lemon Bay play from behind with a run in the first inning.
McBurrows drew a leadoff walk, stole second and eventually scored on Denton's groundball to second.
McBurrows then showed her power when she drilled a leadoff home run in the third inning. She also homered in last year's state semifinal game.
The Highlanders weren't finished in the inning. Davis walked, moved to second on Presley Smith's infield single. Denton sacrificed the runners to second and third to bring up No. 5 batter Sydnie Whitaker.
After being fooled on a pitch and striking out with the bases loaded in the first innining, she singled to drive in the two runners and put Lake Wales up 4-0.
"I kind of knew I had to back off the plate because she would start throwing inside, and I just wanted to hit it hard on the ground," Whitaker said. "It felt really good just because I knew I could score some runs for my team."
Second baseman Lilah Denton, the No. 8 batter, came through with an RBI single in the fifth inning.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lake Wales, Conroy shuts down Lemon Bay in state semifinals
