FERRIDAY, La. &045; Just play defense, they said.

With a star pitcher on the mound and a top half of the lineup that’s really starting to hit the ball, all the Huntington Lady Hounds needed to do was play good defense. Better said than done, mind you, with an outfield that was young enough for the school to start a junior high program.

So the Lady Hounds kept working on defense. And now with the Class A South State tournament coming up next week, the Lady Hounds are getting where they want to be &045; Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of WCCA put their winning streak at seven and their mark over the last 10 games at 9-1.

Huntington won Game 1 10-0 in six innings and Game 2 12-3 in four.

&uot;We’ve improved a lot hitting and defense,&uot; said Huntington senior Krystal Arnold, who belted a triple in the first game to score a run. &uot;I’m really, really proud of our outfield. The infield has gotten a lot better. Everybody has improved &045; you just can’t say how much. It makes me happy they’re doing well.&uot;

The coaches are too, but no one may be as happy as standout right-hander Erin Hedrick, who was on top of her game Tuesday but usually keeps the opposition quiet with her assortment of pitches.

She had to cope with catchable balls that fell in or just errors while trying to stay focused on the mound. On Tuesday she worked the first four innings of the first game and the first three in the second and allowed no hits and four walks while striking out 10.

&uot;Pitching has a lot to do with it and making them hit the right pitch,&uot; Huntington head coach Rut Horne said. &uot;Erin doesn’t get many pitches above the numbers. Every time we don’t get many hits into the outfield, and that’s because she spots her pitches.

&uot;When she’s pitching like that, all you’ve got to do is field ground balls. The little kids can do a pretty good job of that.&uot;

The Lady Rams (9-12) did plenty of that with only one ball hit into the outfield off Hedrick, a fly out to Bethany Morace in shallow right in the first game. The Lady Rams had been hitting the ball well up until Tuesday’s doubleheader but couldn’t get anything going until Hedrick exited.

They got three hits in two innings off Brandy Butts in the first game and got three runs off Jessie Lee in the second game, thanks to run-scoring singles by Erin Ashley and Lill Netterville.

&uot;We struggled against their pitching,&uot; WCCA head coach Leslie Dilworth said. &uot;I don’t know what it is. We’ve struggled a little bit this season, but it seems like we struggle with that girl.&uot;

The Lady Hounds did not have the same problem in their turn at the plate in either game, particularly in Game 2. They scored six runs in the second and third innings, and Hedrick came through with a crushing blow in the second with the bases loaded.

She lined a shot into left center to score Morace, Julie Moak and Jessie Lee for a 5-0 lead. Arnold then singled in Hedrick.

&uot;I tell you what &045; if there’s a better ball player in the area, I want to see her,&uot; Horne said of Hedrick. &uot;She does more for this team than anybody else does for any other team in the area. She crushes balls when she hits them. If they field it, they’ll probably take one off the shin. And she’s an excellent baserunner.&uot;

The Lady Hounds tacked on six more runs in the third inning with two coming in on a single from Sarah Loomis.

In the first game, the Lady Hounds put together a five-run third inning to blow the game open. Loomis and Morace scored the first runs before Hedrick singled in Moak and Lee for a 9-0 lead, and Hedrick scored when a shot to left field fell in.

&uot;We’re real young,&uot; Dilworth said. &uot;That’s what I’m trying to build. I knew going into it it was going to be a challenge. It’s hard for somebody watching our games to see how much they’ve improved. The dedication level has been higher than it’s ever been.&uot;

The Lady Hounds finished both games with just two errors, and WCCA had just five hits on the night. The only trouble Hedrick got into on the mound came in the first game when runners got to second and third in the fourth inning before she got a strikeout and two flyouts to end the inning.

After the number of errors earlier in the year, that’s something the Lady Hounds will take.