FERRIDAY, La. &045; If people don’t physically come up to Whitney Roark after a game and tell her, they’re likely thinking it.

And that’s what makes the little pitcher with a cannon arm really smile.

On Thursday night, she definitely heard it.

&uot;That’s what the coach from the other team said,&uot; the little Monterey hurler admitted.

&uot;’You throw hard for a little ol’ girl.’&uot;

That she did. Throw in some offspeed stuff to make her tailing fastballs look that much faster, and the opposing coach is not the only one delivering compliments after the game.

Roark allowed five hits, walked none and struck out five in the Ferriday Gators’ 3-1 win in five innings in Game 2 of a doubleheader with Oak Grove.

Armed with a dropball she was introduced to only four days earlier and a nasty curveball, Roark showed how she may be the best-kept secret on a Gator summer team that’s deep in pitching.

&uot;We called curveball a lot tonight,&uot; Roark said. &uot;When I got two strikes, I threw my curveball most of the time. I was kind of surprised about (my fastball). I just learned a dropball, and I threw that tonight. It worked, but not too good. We came and pitched up here early (Monday) for about two hours. It’s easier than the riseball, that’s for sure.&uot;

The Oak Grove Lady Tigers had contact at times early but had only two flyouts in the final four innings. The only run came in the third when the Lady Tigers got a run in on a Carly Bennett single, but after that they had either ground ball outs or strikeouts.

That was enough with the Gators’ bats finding enough holes and playing some small ball to get three runs for the win.

They won Game 1 10-6.

&uot;Roark keeps the ball down,&uot; Gators head coach Rut Horne said. &uot;She’s got a good breaking pitch. She had a few K’s tonight, and that’s a good-hitting club. She just really never got a lot of chances in high school to strut her stuff. In the summer league, she seems to blossom.

&uot;She pitched four games in Alexandria and didn’t walk a person. She had Alexandria 4-1, and I pulled her out because she was overheated. We split with Alexandria here (Tuesday), and she beat them 4-0. They beat us 9-2 the first game, and they had the best-hitting team I’ve seen.&uot;

Roark came with the offspeed to get two strikeouts in the second inning, and the defense came up with a big play in the third to keep the Lady Tigers from getting a rally. The throw home to Jessie Lee was not in time, but Lee fired to second to get Bennett trying to stretch her single into a double for the first out of the inning.

In the fourth Ashleigh Clement reached on an infield single to lead off and stole second, but Roark retired the next two batters before getting Jamie Duckworth to strike out to end the inning.

&uot;She has her favorite pitch,&uot; Oak Grove head coach Raymond Desselle said. &uot;But we’re just young. We’re real young.&uot;

Said Horne: &uot;She’s always been able to throw a peel drop. The other drop, to me, is a little harder to teach, but she picked it up in practice pretty good. But her location and the movement on her fastballs &045; she throws two. And with the curveball, it’s not that it’s breaking 18 inches but that it’s offspeed. They’re looking for that fastball, and all of a sudden in floats in there.&uot;

The Lady Tigers’ run in the third tied it up, but the Gators got going in the top half of fourth when they put two runners on base and took advantage of a crucial error off Clement. Lee walked to lead off the inning and moved up a bag on an error on a ball hit by Whitney Price, but Clement’s throw to first on a pickoff attempt got by the first baseman to allow Lee to score and Price to get to third.

Christy Corley then grounded out to short to score Price for the 3-1 lead.

The Gators had just three hits off Clement, who was struggling with a sore arm despite slugging a home run in the first game. Alyx Atkinson, a Florida native in the area for the summer, was left at third in the second inning, and Brittany Hill mashed a triple to lead off the fifth before being stranded there.

The Gators got their first run in the first when Lee scored on a Price sacrifice fly.

&uot;We put it in play,&uot; Horne said. &uot;A lot of small ball tonight, and I think that’s what broke the game open in the first game and the second game. Alyx is a very good slap hitter. She’s an athlete, and she’s playing up &045; she’s only 15.

&uot;Brittany did that in Alexandria and put one up against the fence. This is her first year to play fast-pitch, and she’s making the transition real well.&uot;