BLADENBORO – Junior Ava Jacobs pitched a 5-hit shutout and senior Sanauwa Campbell and junior Bailey Padgett slugged home runs to lead East Columbus to a 5-0 non-conference softball victory over West Bladen Thursday night.
Jacobs struck out 6 batters and walked none. Campbell blasted a solo home run in the 3rd inning and doubled and scored on junior Karli Godwin’s 2-run double in the 1st inning that also scored sophomore Kaley Mitchell.
Godwin batted 2-for-4 with a triple and a double. Mitchell finished 2-for-4 with a run-scoring single in the 4th inning. Padgett slammed her solo home run in the 3rd inning. Sophomore Ash Powell hammered a double for the Lady Gators.
Sophomore Emmee Ward smacked a single to right field that broke up Jacobs’ no-hit bid in the 4th inning. Senior Jessalyn Vendrick yanked a 2-out single to left, but Jacobs retired the next batter on a line-out.
West Bladen junior Kaitlynn Brisson ripped a single off the 3rd baseman in the 5th inning, and junior Kylie Durden smoked a lead-off single to right field in the 6th inning.
Junior Mackenzie Singletary raked a single through the middle to begin the West 7th inning, and sophomore Gracie Faircloth reached base on an error, but Jacobs retired the next 3 batters to end the game.
“We hit the ball hard tonight, but we hit it where they were playing,” said Lady Knight Coach Pam Stephens. “We played good defense, turning 2 double plays. We had 2 double plays Monday night too. Don’t know when was the last time that we had 2 double plays in back-to-back games.”
Vendrick started both of the double plays by spearing ground balls near the 3rd base bag. In the 3rd inning, she tagged the runner attempting to dive back to the base then fired to 1st base to retire the batter. In the 7th inning, she stepped on 3rd to force one runner then threw out the batter at 1st base.
Durden started in the circle for West Bladen and pitched 3.2 innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits while striking out 3. Junior Madison Taylor relieved in the 4th inning and worked 3.1 innings of 2-hit scoreless relief, striking out one. Neither Lady Knight pitcher walked a batter.
“We are working hard,” said Stephens. “We are playing a tough non-conference scheduled hoping that will help us when we get into conference play.”
West Bladen will travel to West Columbus Friday for another non-conference game. Game time is 6 p.m.
East Columbus 202 100 0 – 5-10-1
West Bladen 000 000 0 – 0- 5 -2
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