DUBLIN – Junior Sophia Singletary pitched a 3-hitter, and freshman Carley Dawson and junior Laikyn Pait pounded first-inning doubles to lead West Bladen to a 3-1 NCHSAA Class 2A Softball first round play-off victory over Franklinton Wednesday night.
Singletary struck out 4, walked one and limited the Lady Rams to a late unearned run. “Sophia did an outstanding job for us,” said Lady Knight Coach Joey Autry. “She mixed her pitches well, and even when she got behind was able to throw a strike when it counted.”
The Lady Knights took charge in the first inning after two were out. Dawson walloped a double off the leftfield fence then advanced on a passed ball. Junior Alanna Ludlum walked and stole second base. Pait knocked in both runners with a double to left-centerfield for a 2-0 West Bladen lead.
“Those two balls by Carley and Laikyn were crushed to left field,” said Coach Autry. “Alanna tweaked her hamstring running the bases in that inning, but she played through it even though it was hurting. They must have had a good scouting report because they didn’t try to run on her.”
Franklinton pitcher Summer Jacobs singled to start the fourth inning and reached third base with only one out, but Singletary worked out of the jam getting a pop-up back to her and a strike-out.
Junior Kassidy Anderson belted a single to centerfield to start the West Bladen fifth and moved up on a passed ball. Dawson cracked a single, and Anderson dashed home on Ludlum’s sacrifice fly to pad the lead to 3-0.
The Lady Rams capitalized on a throwing error in their last at-bat to put Ashley Breslin on third base. Junior Kathryn Schultz ran down a long drive to leftfield by Kelsey Forsythe then fired a strike to the plate, but Breslin was barely called safe.
“We played pretty good defense,” said Coach Autry. “We had that error in the last inning, but Logan (Autry) ran down some balls in centerfield, and Kathryn made that big catch in the seventh.”
Dawson batted 2-3 with the double and a run scored to lead West Bladen. Pait blasted the 2-run double, and Anderson singled and scored. Ludlum scored a run and drove one in. Junior Jenna Dove smacked a single and stole a base.
“We had really good effort tonight,” said Coach Autry. “It was a solid game by the whole team.”
Jacobs pitched a 5-hiter and struck out 8 for the Lady Rams. The junior pitcher batted 2-3 to lead Franklinton at the plate. Charli Bacon had the other Franklinton hit.
The Lady Knights improved to 15-8 on the season and will travel to Kenly Friday at 7 p.m. to play North Johnston who defeated Midway 5-0.
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