DUBLIN – Senior Sophia Singletary pitched a 2-hit shutout Wednesday night to lead West Bladen to a 4-0 Four County Conference softball victory over Pender.
Pender loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning on a hit, an error and a hit batter, but the Lady Knight defense worked out of it. Shortstop Conner Brisson threw out a runner at the plate, and thirdbaseman Carley Dawson started a double play to end the inning.
Carley Dawson fielded a grounder, stepped on third and fired home to catcher Alanna Ludlum who tagged out the runner to end the inning.
“Conner made a great play to get the runner at the plate, and then Carley started the double play,” said West Bladen Coach Joey Autry. “Sophia did a good job getting two ground balls to get us out of the inning. Getting out of that with no runs was big.”
Starting with those final 2 batters in the first inning, Singletary retired 20 of the final 23 batters in the game allowing only one more hit – two more runners reached on errors. The tall righthander struck out two and walked none.
Senior Jenna Dove reached base on an error in the West Bladen third inning and moved up on an infield out. Senior Logan Autry knocked in Dove with a single
West Bladen stretched the lead to 3-0 with two runs in the fourth. Carley Dawson belted a single, and Singletary reached base on an error. Two more Pender errors allowed Carley Dawson and Abby Dawson, the courtesy runner for Singletary, to score.
Carley Dawson led off the Lady Knight seventh with a double, and Singletary ripped a single through the middle. Brisson’s sacrifice fly scored Carley Dawson with the final West Bladen run.
Carley Dawson batted 2-2 with a double and 2 runs scored. Autry finished 2-3 at the plate with a run batted in. Freshman Kyla Reed and Singletary added one hit each for the winners. Dove and Abby Dawson scored runs, and Brisson had an rbi.
The Lady Knights improved to 8-1 in league play and 13-3 overall. West Bladen will host Wallace-Rose Hill Thursday at 6 p.m. in a battle for first place in the Four County.
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