Told that he was, she said «Good. He never gets to see me when I do something good.»

Well, Kassie’s dad and many other Logan Lady Chiefs softball fans got to see their girls not just do good, but do great in an 11-1 Southeastern Ohio Athletic League victory over visiting Marietta.

And not only did the Lady Chiefs (8-7 overall, 5-4 SEOAL) win their fifth-straight game, but they also clinched second place in the North Division and will host South Division runner-up Ironton in the SEOAL «Day of Champions» third-place game Wednesday, May 5, either at Mingo Park or new Lady Chiefs Field on the Logan High School campus.

Marietta (6-11, 4-4) is the last team the Purple & White expected to defeat via the 10-run-differential rule, but that’s precisely what happened Wednesday.

After Marietta got its only run of the game in the top of the first inning, Logan jumped on the Lady Tigers for eight runs in the bottom of the frame and never looked back.

Freshman pitcher Kara Carpenter tried her best to pitch through a shoulder injury for the Lady Tigers, but she walked three batters and hit two others, sandwiched around an infield hit by Logan’s Brooke Simons. She forced in two runs when she hit Alyssa Meyer and Ashley Dixon with pitches with the bases loaded and walked Cremeans to bring in a run as well.

An error led to Logan’s fourth marker of the inning before Madison Maniskas came through with a big two-run single to center field. Two batters later, Simons got her second hit of the inning, a base hit to left, to chase home two more and make the score 8-1.

And even though the Lady Chiefs would have been happy with a 4-1 lead, Maniskas’s hit was important in many different ways.

«We were getting runs on walks and hit by pitches,» said Logan coach Jim Huntsberger. «There’s a sense if (Carpenter) could get back under control, then they would have a chance to get back in the game. We felt like we hadn’t yet earned anything ? but then Maddie comes up and gets that hit, drives in two runs and we have momentum.

«Maddie has hit the ball well for us,» he added. «She’s had some really key hits. She also had a double over the center fielder’s head that was the winning run (when Logan beat Marietta in the first game of a doubleheader two weeks ago). In both Marietta games she’s been the big hitter. She has a good eye for the ball, doesn’t go after bad pitches and makes good contact.»

The Lady Tigers managed just five total baserunners off Logan pitcher Rachael Vermillion who, in Huntsberger’s words, «pitched a phenomenal game.»

Vermillion walked Carpenter to lead off the game and Kyrie Walsh followed with a single, then groundouts by Sara Stalter and Ali Milligan produced Marietta’s only run.

After that, Vermillion allowed only two hits and saw her defense play flawlessly behind her, including brilliant defensive plays by right fielder Jen Hoag and second baseman Amanda Wine, who leaped to snare a line drive off the bat of Marietta’s Bree Seevers that nearly knocked her into short right field leading off the seventh frame.

«What gets lost in the shuffle when you score a lot of runs like we’ve been doing lately (Logan has outscored its foes 44-15 during its five-game win streak) is that the one constant that has given us a chance to win all year long is our pitching,» Huntsberger said. «It’s been great. Rachael pitched great tonight, and she and Amanda (Fleming) both have been deserving of more support defensively, and now (the defense) is starting to come around. They’ve done a phenomenal job.»

Vermillion finished with a three-hitter ? two singles by Walsh and a hit by Becky Thomson ? while striking out three and walking only one.

Carpenter pitched the first three innings and took the loss, with relief help from Stalter in the fourth inning. The Lady Chiefs managed six hits ? Cremeans had her home run and a single, Simons had her two singles, and Meyer and Maniskas both chipped in a base rap ? and nine of their 11 runs were earned.

On the other side of the diamond, it’s been a tough spring for the short-handed Lady Tigers.

«The girls are playing hard and they haven’t given up,» said Marietta coach John Doughty. «With injuries hurting us we’re playing people in different positions every night. We have 10 kids and our No. 2 pitcher (behind Carpenter) is hurt with what she thinks is a torn meniscus.

«There are no excuses (in this game),» he added. «(Logan) played a good game tonight and hit their spots when they needed to. We hit the ball well and hit some balls right at them. The one Bree hit, an inch higher (and) that’s a double. Sometimes it takes a little luck to win ballgames, but give all the credit to Logan.»

«I have so much respect for Marietta’s program and a huge amount of respect for the Carpenter girl,» Huntsberger noted. «She’s pitching hurt. She’s so gutsy. She’s going to be so good, and she’s just a freshman.

«We’ve been talking about this game for a week now,» he added. «We really thought this was going to be our championship game ? we knocked ourselves out of the (North Division) race early ? and we talked about it so much the girls were kind of nervous. But they came out and played really well. You never expect to beat Marietta by 10 runs. Usually we have one- and two-run games, and every once in awhile we have an aberration. John and Jim do such a great job with that program.»

Bailey Topf put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to drive in a run and Meyer added a run-scoring single to make it 10-1 in the third, then Cremeans led off the bottom of the fourth with a drive over the center fielder’s head and beat the relay throw to the plate for her home run.

It was the Lady Chiefs’ fourth-straight game with a home run (two each by Cremeans and Meyer), and that in itself has been a surprise to Huntsberger.

«I’ve never had a team hit the deep ball like this. That’s helped us get some big innings.» he said. «We’ve occasionally had a girl who could hit the ball out of the park on any swing ? Jessica Harris, Melissa Cooper and Ivy Ortman come to mind ? but never like this.

«The confidence level is way up right now, and confidence breeds results,» he continued. «On defense (early in the season) we had a lot of kids in positions they had never been in before, or in the wrong position. Now that we have kids where we think they need to be, they’re getting comfortable and making plays.»

Logan struggled defensively early in the season. The Lady Chiefs committed 31 errors combined in their season opener against Johnstown Northridge and an SEOAL doubleheader against Warren two days later.

«Those first couple games the teams we played are pretty good,» Huntsberger noted. «Last thing I knew Northridge was 14-1, and Warren has won the (SEOAL) North Division.

«Coming into the season we knew we had some questions (and) it took us a little longer than normal to answer those questions,» he added. «I think we’re starting to figure it out and we’re starting to play pretty well.»

The Lady Chiefs are scheduled to play at Philo in a non-league twinbill on Saturday and Huntsberger hopes his team can continue to build its momentum.

I told the girls I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of a group of girls because of where we were (early in the season) and where we are now,» he concluded.ReplyReply AllMove…RON

Source: http://www.mariettatimes.com

For the first time Crystal had no guitar to rely on as she sang from the heart with just the band and choir to prod her along. But she had her lucky home made microphone stand, brought by her Dad who was in the audience for the first time.

The combination of dear old Dad and such a powerful heirloom contributed to Crystal breaking down and crying as she tried to hit the last note. That note died on lips quavering with emotion but the impact wan’t lost on anyone. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Randy gave Crystal a standing ovation.

Ellen was so blown away she could only say that Crystal never looked more beautiful.

Kara finally got her wish to see Crystal put down the guitar and said she’s at «another level.»

Reminded that the show was going long, Simon still managed to squeeze in that in a strange way it was a relief to see Crystal cry, unbottling the hint of deep emotion we all know is there.

What did you think? Let me know with a comment below.

And don’t forget to vote in my Top 7 Gather Poll by choosing your LEAST favorite performance.

Here’s the video to help you decide:

Source: http://news.gather.com

As a result of MRV’s participation, the OptiSwitch demonstrated service interconnection with Carrier Ethernet service providers throughout Europe.

Ethernet Europe 2010, which was held in London, is an event covering the topic of Carrier Ethernet network technologies and services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As part of Ethernet Europe’s live interoperability demonstration, MRV’s OptiSwitch units were on display. By implementing MRV’s OptiSwitch, service providers can streamline provisioning and troubleshooting across multiple networks, reducing the time it takes to deliver services and lower service management costs.

The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) in collaboration with ancotel, a European carrier interconnect companies, and Light Reading, have created a service provider interoperability test program for 2010 to validate and showcase Carrier Ethernet services across multiple carriers using External Network-Network Interfaces (ENNI) specified by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). With the initial phase recently concluded, phase two results were unveiled at Ethernet Europe.

«Our top goal for this interoperability program was to improve Carrier Ethernet service interconnection in real service provider production networks,» said Carsten Rossenhoevel, managing director at EANTC. «Functional interoperability, high availability and service level assurance across service provider networks are crucial steps in accelerating Carrier Ethernet global interconnections.»

Phase two of the interoperability testing extended Carrier Ethernet services to remote service provider locations throughout Frankfurt, Munich, London, Luxembourg, Paris, Brussels and Sevastopol, Spain, where the circuits were terminated by network interface devices (NIDs) supplied by MRV.

«Service providers not only need to deliver exceptional services, but must also be able to prove that they can deliver interconnected services,» said Noam Lotan, CEO of MRV Communications. «This interoperability demonstration was an important step in accelerating the global Carrier Ethernet market and MRV was encouraged at the opportunity to participate.»

Earlier this year, EANTC testing at the MPLS & Ethernet World Congress validated interoperability of MRV’s OptiSwitch and confirmed features such as ITU-T G.8032 Ethernet ring protection switching (ERPS), which provides sub-50ms protection to streamline a migration path from SONET/SDH optical fiber rings to Carrier Ethernet services in a ring topology.

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For full details on (MRVC) MRVC . (MRVC) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on (MRVC) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link .

Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com