ELIZABETHTOWN – Abigail Madden scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Elizabethtown a 5-4 softball victory over Bladenboro in a battle for the top spot in the Bladen Five Middle School Conference.
Madden drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, stole second base and raced all the way home from second on an infield out with the decisive run.
The game between the Bladen Five’s two unbeaten teams featured a pitching match-up between Elizabethtown’s Kayleigh Raynor and Bladenboro’s Rylee Chadwick and the two pitchers didn’t disappoint.
Raynor pitched a 4-hitter, struck out 12 batters, hit two batters and issued zero walks. Chadwick scattered 3 hits, struck out 13 batters and walked three.
The Lady Cougars jumped in front with 2 runs in the first inning as Madden walked and Raynor blasted a home run that scored Madden in front of her.
In the Elizabethtown third inning, Madden was hit by a pitch, and Raynor ripped a shot past the thirdbaseman that scored Madden. Shortstop Cheylee Mathis belted a single as Raynor scored for a 4-0 lead.
Raynor retired the first 9 batters that she faced, but Lainey Autry led off the Bladenboro fourth inning with a single. Chadwick walloped a home run to leftfield that scored Autry ahead of her.
Savannah Turbeville was hit by a pitch and came around to score on McKenzie Singletary’s fielder’s choice that trimmed the Lady Cougar lead to 4-3.
Chadwick laced a single to leftfield in the sixth, and Turbeville connected for a single. Hannah Pait’s fielder’s choice scored Chadwick with the tying run.
Mathis led the Lady Cougars with 2 hits, and Raynor slammed the 2-run homer and scored twice. Madden reached base four times and scored 3 runs.
Chadwick batted 2-3 with the 2-run homer and 2 runs scored to lead the Lady Bulldog hitters. Autry and Turbeville added one hit each and both of them scored a run. Pait and Singletary drove in runs.
Coach Tarrah Woodruff’s Lady Cougars move atop the Bladen Five with a 3-0 record and will travel to Clarkton School of Discovery Tuesday. Bladenboro is now 2-1 and will host Tar Heel Tuesday.
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