HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL: GROSS HURLS NO-HITTER IN FINAL

Cape Central's theme song "Eye of the Tiger" could very well have been retitled "Arm of the Tiger" for the performance of pitcher Cassie Gross.

Gross was nearly perfect as she hurled a no-hitter to lead the Lady Tigers to a 4-0 win over Jackson in the Class 4A, District 1 championship game at Arena Park on Monday.

The Lady Tiger pitcher walked the first batter she faced, then allowed no other Jackson hitters to reach base for the duration of the game. Gross struck out five.

Mixing her pitches well and hitting spots, the exuberant Gross said, "I've been pumped all day for this one."

The win dethrones Jackson (12-16), the '99 district champion, and sends Cape Central (21-6) to the first round of the sectional playoffs at Northwest House Springs. The Lady Tigers will play the winner of the Seckman vs. Fox matchup on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Each team failed to get a hit or score in the first two innings with the starting pitchers dominating. Jackson southpaw Casi Childers struck out the side in the bottom of the first. Childers allowed five hits, struck out four and walked none in the losing effort.

Then came the decisive and fateful -- for the Lady Indians -- bottom of the third inning.

Cape Central's Holly Schnurbusch led off the inning with a single and went to second on a hit by Katie Dougherty. Next batter, Trisha Klipfel, smoked a liner to Jackson second baseman, Wendy Blankenship, who made a nice grab and dove to the second-base bag to double up Schnurbusch.

With two out and a runner on first, two consecutive singles by Alex Weiser and Sarah Muench loaded the bases for the Lady Tigers.

Then came the key play of the contest. Amber Voerg lofted a routine pop fly to short right field that should have been caught for the final out of the inning. But the ball popped out of the glove of the Jackson rightfielder, allowing Dougherty and Wieser to score. A third run came across when Ashlie Voerg singled to drive home Muench.

The three unearned runs were too much for a Jackson offense that couldn't solve Gross. Cape Central tacked on one final run in its half of the sixth inning to make the final 4-0.

On the other side of the diamond, Cape Central's defense was flawless.

"We played great," said Cape Central coach Amy Blattel, who led her team to the district championship in her second season at the helm. "You know going into the game that teams who make the least amount of errors usually win."

Jackson went 0-3 against Central this season with two of the losses at the hands of Gross.

"They (Cape Central) deserve to be the district champions and I respect them for that," said Jackson coach Becky Riney. " In spite of our errors, you still need to score runs to win and we didn't do that."