By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher EGG HARBOR CITY – Of the 21 outs Cedar Creek junior pitcher Cheyenne Meyer induced on Wednesday afternoon, 14 came via the strikeout. It was those other seven that weren’t so easy to get. A scrappy Haddon Heights team broke open a close game with a four-run outburst in the top of the seventh to beat the Pirates 7-3 in the quarterfinals of the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs. The Garnets’ slap hitters, Chelsea Thomas, Ali Bastien and Kacie Pisani, befuddled the Cedar Creek defense, going a combined 6-for-13 and collecting nearly all of Haddon Heights’ eight hits. Cedar Creek pitcher Cheyenne Meyer had 14 strikeouts and also hit a 2-run home run in the Pirates' 7-3 loss to Haddon Heights on Wednesday in the state playoffs. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O'Sullivan) Cedar Creek pitcher Cheyenne Meyer had 14 strikeouts and also hit a 2-run home run in the Pirates’ 7-3 loss to Haddon Heights on Wednesday in the state playoffs. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “We’ve seen a few of them this season and we’ve handled them well,” said Cedar Creek coach Shawn Cohen. “But when the slap hitter turns into a regular bunter, that’s where we have a problem. We had a few younger players try to do a little too much beyond what they’ve been doing all season to try and help out the team, and it just didn’t quite work out for us today.” No. 3 Cedar Creek (19-8) erased an early 1-0 deficit in the fourth when Sydney Seney scored after Mykayla Bird-Clahar laced a shot into the gap in left. Bird-Clahar got hung up between first and second on the relay throw to the infield, allowing Seney to score. Haddon Heights (18-7), the No. 6 seed and 2013 Group 1 state champion, came back with single runs in the fifth and sixth, but Meyer and the Pirates worked out of a couple of huge jams to keep the game close. In the fifth, Natalie Hales stroked a leadoff double and scored on a bases loaded walk to Lauren Simmons, but Meyer fanned the next two batters to avoid potential disaster. In the sixth, a slap single, a bunt single and two infield singles produced another Garnets run as Haddon Heights pushed the lead to 3-1, but again the Pirates limited the damage. Haddon Heights took control in the seventh with a four-run rally. A leadoff single, a walk and another slap single loaded the bases, and consecutive RBI singles by Ashley Reynolds and Hales pushed the lead to 5-1. Bastien added an RBI single, and another run scored on an error to make it 7-1. Catcher Mykayla Bird-Clahar had a couple of hits for the Pirates and also played solid defense behind the plate. Catcher Mykayla Bird-Clahar had a couple of hits for the Pirates and also played solid defense behind the plate. The Pirates didn’t go quietly in their half of the seventh, however, as Meyer blasted a 2-run homer to deep left before the Garnets closed out the victory. Cohen said he was surprised that his offense, which had put up some outstanding numbers all season, was stymied by Haddon Heights sophomore Breanna Veit. “We knew she wasn’t a strong strikeout pitcher and we are a strong hitting team. We still got our hits, we just didn’t group them like we usually do,” Cohen said. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays