ELIZABETHTOWN – Sophomore Jenna Brice knocked in sophomore Niyah Wooten with the winning run in the bottom of the 7th inning as East Bladen rallied for an 11-10 Waccamaw Conference softball victory over Pender Tuesday night.
Coach Alan West’s Lady Eagles, now 1-5 in Waccamaw play and 2-5 overall, will play Monday thru Wednesday in the West Brunswick softball tournament during Easter Break. Pender dropped to 2-2 in the league and 5-2 overall.
Pender led 10-8 when junior Gabby Bray started the winning rally with a single. Junior Martha Simmons smashed a single to center field that scored Bray. Junior Mollie Tolar reached base on an error. Tolar stole 2nd base, and Simmons stole home on the back end of the double steal to tie the score. Wooten rapped a single to center, but Tolar was thrown out at the plate. Brice then delivered the walk-off single to center field that scored Wooten.
Simmons batted 5-for-5, scored 3 runs and had 2 runs batted in. Sophomore Gracey Clark finished 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Freshman Tatum Allen slugged her 1st high school home run and was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored. Wooten batted 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored. Tolar finished 2-for-5 with an RBI. Brice batted 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Bray and freshman Jamiee Perkins added a single each, and both of them scored runs.
Brice pitched a complete game and allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4.
After Olivia Gurganus doubled and scored in the Pender 1st, Simmons belted a single, and Tolar beat out a bunt single in the home 1st. Wooten reached base on an error that scored Simmons. Pender turned a double play, but Clark swatted a single to right that scored Wooten for a 2-1 East lead.
In the Pender 4th, Junior Kaylee Woodcock doubled to left, and sophomore Charleigh Rivenbark singled to drive her in with the tying run. Kimora McAllister walked, and Shamiah Johnson hammered a 2-run double. Jamiah Johnson drove in Shamiah Johnson with a single to push the Lady Patriot lead to 5-2.
Perkins led off the Lady Eagle half of the inning with a single to left and scored when Simmons laced a single to right that trimmed the margin to 5-3.
Katlynn Iddings raked a single to left and scored on Rivenbark’s double in the 5th inning. McAllister drove in Rivenbark with a single to pad the lead to 7-3.
Clark ripped a single to left in the East 5th inning, and Allen walloped a 2-run homer over the center field fence to narrow the gap to 7-5.
Iddings cracked a 2-run single in the Pender 6th to push the lead to 9-5. Sophomore Cabria Baldwin walked, and Simmons lined a single to center in the bottom of the inning. Tolar’s fielder’s choice plated Baldwin, and Brice yanked a single to left that scored Simmons. Allen reached on an error that scored Nadya Colon, the courtesy runner for Brice and whittled the lead to 9-8.
Rivenbark clubbed a solo home run to left in the top of the 7th to put Pender up 10-8. Rivenbark finished 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Iddings was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Jamiah Johnson batted 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Shamiah Johnson had the 2-run double.
Woodcock pitched a complete game and gave up 11 runs – 8 earned – on 17 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2.
Pender 100 422 1 — 10-12-4
East Bladen 200 123 3 — 11- 17-1
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