DUBLIN – West Bladen scored 7 runs in the final two innings to close out an 18-8 mercy-rule victory over Red Springs Tuesday night in Three Rivers Conference softball action.
The Lady Red Devils started the game with 4 straight hits and scored 3 first-inning runs.
West Bladen rallied with 6 runs in the bottom of the first. Sophmore Kyla Reed walked, and sophmore Alara Cashwell reached on a fielder’s choice. Junior Carley Dawson smacked a single to centerfield that plated Reed. Cashwell and Carley Dawson both raced home on wild pitches.
Senior Brittney Landreth reached base on an error. Freshman Alyssa Suggs, senior Alise Pait and freshman Natalie Ludlum drew walks that forced home Landreth. Senior Abby Dawson drove home Suggs with an infield hit, and a throwing error on the play scored Pait.
Reed reached base on an error in the second inning and scooted home when Cashwell yanked a double down the leftfield line. Carley Dawson reached base on an error that scored Jordan Benson, the courtesy runner for Cashwell.
Carley Dawson darted to third base on a wild pitch and scored on senior Madison Collins’ fielder’s choice that padded the Lady Knight lead to 9-3.
Katelyn Culbreth launched a solo home run over the centerfield fence to begin the Red Springs third inning, and two more hits produced another run and trimmed the margin to 9-5.
Pait and Ludlum drew walks to start the West third inning. Abby Dawson forced Ludlum at second base, but both Pait and Abby Dawson darted home on wild pitches to push the Lady Knight lead to 11-5.
Culbreth pounded a double to right-centerfield that drove in a Lady Red Devil run in the fourth inning.
Senior Elizabeth Allbright and Pait drew walks and Ludlum was hit by a pitch to begin the West Bladen fifth. Abby Dawson rapped a single through the middle that scored Allbright and Pait. Reed raked a single to left that drove in Ludlum and Abby Dawson and stretched the lead to 15-6.
Red Springs used 2 singles, a throwing error and a sacrifice fly to close the gap to 15-8 in the sixth, before West Bladen ended the game in the home sixth.
Allbright and Abby Dawson drew walks, before Reed drilled a double to left that scored Allbright and Abby Dawson. Cashwell poked a single inside the rightfield line that scored Reed and ended the game on the ten-run rule.
Reed slammed 2 doubles, drove in 4 runs and scored 3 runs to lead the Lady Knight attack. Abby Dawson also batted 2-4 with 3 rbi’s and 3 runs scored for the winners. Cashwell finished with a 2-5 game at the plate with 2 rbi’s and 2 runs scored.
Carley Dawson delivered the rbi single and scored twice. Collins drove in a run. Pait scored 3 runs, Allbright scored twice, and Landreth, Suggs and Ludlum scored one run each.
Collins pitched a complete game and struck out five batters while walking one. Six of the 8 Red Springs runs were earned.
Culbreth batted 3-4 with a home run and a double to lead the Red Springs hitters. Jalexis Bratcher also finished 3-4 at the plate, and Kiera Bryant, Kamryn Bell and Tylynn Atkinson connected for 2 hits each.
Coach Pam Stephens’ Lady Knights improved to 7-4 in league play and 8-7 overall. West Bladen travels to East Columbus Friday night.
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