FAYETTEVILLE -An 11-run, second-inning explosion propelled West Bladen’s Lady Knights to a 16-15 non-conference softball victory at Freedom Christian Monday.
Two hit batters, a walk and Kendall Maculey’s 2-run single staked Freedom to a 2-0 first inning lead.
The Lady Knights capitalized on 8 hits, 2 errors, and a hit batter to score the 11 runs in the second. Junior Laikyn Pait started the inning with a single, and juniors Sophia Singletary and Jenna Dove reached base on errors as Pait scored.
Junior Kathryn Schultz was hit by a pitch, and junior Kassidy Anderson beat out an infield hit that scored Singletary. Junior Logan Autry cracked a single that brought home Dove. Freshman Carley Dawson knocked in sophmore Patience Parker, the courtesy runner for Schultz.
Junior Alanna Ludlum hammered a double to left-centerfield that cleaned the bases and scored Anderson, Autry and Dawson. Pait belted a single to drive in Ludlum, and Singletary slammed a double.
Dove blasted a 3-run homer over the left-centerfield fence that plated Pait and Singletary and stretched the Lady Knight lead to 11-2.
Four walks, three West Bladen errors and Molly Montgomery’s 2-run single produced 7 Freedom runs in the home half of the second and trimmed the Lady Knight lead to 11-9.
Anderson led off the Lady Knight third inning with a single, and two outs later, Ludlum walloped a double that plated Anderson. Pait belted a single that scored Ludlum and pushed the West lead to 13-9.
Montgomery clubbed a 3-run home run in the bottom of the third to slice the Lady Knight lead to 13-12.
Schultz smashed a double to begin the West Bladen fourth, and freshman Conner Brisson followed with a single. Anderson delivered a single that scored Schultz, and Autry reached base on a fielder’s choice.
Dawson ripped a single that brought home Anderson, and Ludlum swatted a single that plated Autry and padded the West lead to 16-12.
A pair of Knight errors and a LaChyna Mack single produced a Freedom run in the fifth inning and closed the gap to 16-13.
The Lady Knights retired the first two batters in the Freedom seventh inning, but singles by Maculey, Mack and Alanna Powell plus a West error narrowed the gap to 16-15. However a ground ball to secondbaseman Anderson with the tying and winning runs on base ended the game.
Singletary pitched the final 6 innings in relief of Schultz, the Lady Knight starter, to pick up the win and raise her record to 5-7. Singletary allowed 8 runs – only 2 earned – on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out two. Schultz started and pitched into the second inning giving up 7 runs – 4 earned – on 2 hits and 5 walks while striking out one.
Pait batted 4-5 with 2 runs batted in and 2 runs scored. Ludlum finished 3-5 at the plate with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and 5 rbi’s. Dawson was 3-5 with a double, a run scored and 2 rbi’s.
Anderson batted 2-5 with 3 runs scored and an rbi. Singletary finished 2-4 at the plate with 2 runs scored. Dove slugged the 3-run homer, drove in 4 runs and scored two.
Schultz slammed the double, and Autry and Brisson added a single each to the 18-hit West Bladen attack. Autry scored 2 runs and drove in a run.
Montgomery batted 2-4 with the home run and 5 rbi’s to lead the Freedom hitters. Maculey finished 2-5 with 2 rbi’s, and Mack was 2-4 with 2 rbi’s.
Coach Joey Autry’s Lady Knights evened their record at 7-7 and will host Union Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a Four County Conference game.
About Author
