PERRYVILLE ROMPS INTO QUARTERFINALS

PERRYVILLE -- A team of destiny?

Perryville High softball coach Lynn O'Neal believes his Lady Pirates just might be.

Despite losing a host of key players from last year's team that won the first district title in school history -- and despite getting off to a slow start this season -- Perryville is in the state quarterfinals for the first time.

The Lady Pirates posted a 10-0 Class 3A Sectional romp over Windsor Thursday on a gorgeous afternoon at Perryville City Park. The game was stopped in the bottom of the fifth inning by the 10-run mercy rule.

Perryville, which improved to 15-14, will take on powerhouse Lutheran South (24-4) at noon Saturday at Kirkwood Park in the 3A quarterfinals. The winner earns a berth in the state's final four.

"Right now, I think these kids feel we're destined," said O'Neal. "Nobody picked us to be here. We lost a lot of great players from last year and we're young, but we have talent.

"I know we're going to be the underdogs (Saturday), but I wouldn't put it past us. These are special kids and they're fun to work with."

Windsor (12-13) came into Thursday's game fresh off an upset district title win over St. Pius. But the Lady Owls were no match for the Lady Pirates, who had won two regular-season meetings with Windsor.

"We had two pretty tough games with Windsor this year, but we hit the ball all three times," O'Neal said.

That offense continued Thursday as the Lady Pirates banged out 14 hits, led by a 3-for-3 performance from shortstop Amanda Schumer. The cleanup batter walked, singled, doubled, tripled and drove in four runs.

"She's a classy player," said O'Neal. "I always feel like money players will be there in big games and she was there today."

Leadoff batter Brittney Weibrecht also had three hits as eight of the nine Perryville regulars hit safely. Rachel Verseman and Jaime Martin both added two hits.

"We've been hitting the ball well lately and today we really hit it," said O'Neal.

The Lady Pirates also got another impressive pitching performance from Megan Narrow, who hurled her third straight shutout. Narrow scattered five hits while striking out one and walking none.

"Megan's not dominant, but she throws strikes," O'Neal said. "Early in the year our defense was pretty bad but now we're playing good defense. The last three games, we've had one error."

Said Narrow with a smile, "I was a lot less nervous after we started scoring runs. When we're hitting, it takes so much pressure off me. It's extremely exciting (to be in the quarterfinals)."

Perryville wasted little time in taking control as the Lady Pirates scored three times in the bottom of the first inning, the key blow being Schumer's two-run double.

It remained 3-0 until the fifth, when the Lady Pirates ended things by scoring seven times on five hits.