TAR HEEL – Rylee Chadwick pitched a 2-hitter and struck out 18 batters to lead Bladenboro to a 4-1 victory over Elizabethtown Tuesday in the opening round of the Bladen County Middle School Softball Tournament.
Chadwick didn’t walk a batter. Lainey Hughes belted a first-inning single then blasted a fourth-inning solo home run for the two Lady Cougar hits.
Megan Pait reached base on an error in the Lady Bulldog third inning, and Chadwick belted a single. An error scored Pait, and Chadwick also scored for a 2-0 lead.
After Hughes’ homer sliced the lead to 2-1, Bladenboro tacked on a run in the fourth. Kallie Bass walked, and Whitney McLean reached base on an error. Megan West knocked in Bass with a single that padded the lead to 3-1.
McKenzie Singletary and Kolee Wilkins smacked one-out singles in the Bladenboro fifth inning. Singletary scored as Marlie Walters reached base on an error to push the lead to 4-1.
Chadwick batted 2-4 and scored a run to lead the Bladenboro hitters. Singletary, Wilkins and West connected for one hit each. Singletary, Bass and Pait scored runs, and West drove in a run.
Hughes finished 2-3 at the plate with the home run for the Lady Cougars. Laura Davisson pitched a 5-hitter, walked three and struck out nine batters for Elizabethtown.
Coach Steve Thurman’s Lady Bulldogs improved to 7-5 on the season and will play Clarkton School of Discovery Thursday at 4 p.m. for the tournament championship.
The Lady Cougars concluded their season with a 6-5 record.
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