Junior Taylor Rivenburgh batted 4-4 with a home run and drove in 4 runs to lead Heide Trask to a 9-3 Four County Conference softball victory at East Bladen Thursday.
The victory cemented Trask’s hold on first-place in the conference as the Lady Titans (11-0) opened up a 2-game lead over the second-place Lady Eagles (9-2).
Junior A. J. Johnson pitched a complete-game 6-hitter for Trask.
Rivenburgh pulled a 2-out double down the leftfield line in the first inning and scored on Kristina Collier’s double.
In the Trask third inning, Kyra Holmes’ bloop single, an error and a wild pitch plated a Trask run, before Rivenburgh blasted her 2-run homer over the centerfield fence. Johnson followed with a double to left and eventually scored on a throwing error for a 5-0 lead.
Lefthander Lacey Suggs relieved East Bladen starting pitcher Miller Heustess in the fifth inning and struck out the first two Trask batters, before two bloop hits and Rivenburgh’s run-scoring single stretched the lead to 9-0.
Suggs retired the final 7 batters that she faced and finished with 3 strike-outs.
The Lady Eagles threatened in the fifth inning as Kaley Smith reached base on a passed third strike, and Suggs beat out an infield hit. Junior Abby Ward belted a hump-backed liner to left, but a diving catch by the Trask leftfielder saved 2 runs and ended the inning.
In the East Bladen seventh, Emily Scott raked an infield hit into the shortstop-third base hole. One out later, Smith drew a walk, and Suggs lined a double to the left-centerfield gap that scored Scott.
Junior Abby Ward ripped a single through the left side that drove in Smith. Suggs turned third and was hung up in a run-down between third and home, before an errant throw allowed her to score the third Lady Eagle run. A fly-out ended the game.
Suggs finished 2-4 at the plate with a double, an rbi, a stolen base and a run scored. Ward cracked the run-scoring single. Scott, catcher Lexi Dawson, and freshman Faith Johnson added one hit each. Scott and Smith scored one run each.
Johnson batted 3-3 with a double and an rbi for the Lady Titans.
East Bladen, now 13-3 overall, will travel to Heide Trask for a rematch Monday at 6 p.m.
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