DUBLIN – Senior Kassidy Anderson’s 2-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning capped a 3-run rally that gave West Bladen a 7-6 victory over Midway and clinched a share of the Four County Conference softball championship.
Midway took a 6-4 lead into the home seventh, but senior Laikyn Pait drew a lead-off walk, and sophmore Carley Dawson sliced a single to rightfield. Pait dashed home on a wild pitch, and senior Sophia Singletary ripped a single through the middle.
Sophmore Conner Brisson launched a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Carley Dawson with the tying run. One out later senior Jenna Dove drew a walk, and Anderson swatted a single to left-centerfield that scored Abby Dawson, the courtesy runner for Singletary, with the winning run.
West Bladen improved to 12-1 in the league and 18-3 overall. The Lady Knights can win the Four County title outright with a victory over East Bladen on Senior Night Thursday at West.
It was the second time in five days that the Lady Knights had rallied from big deficits and still trailed in their last at-bat before pulling out the win. “This group keeps holding it together,” said Coach Joey Autry. “They just keep battling, and it seems like it is somebody different every time with the big hit.”
Midway scored 3 runs in the first inning and tacked on single runs in the second and third innings for a 5-0 lead. The West Bladen rally began in the fifth inning. Dove walked, but Anderson forced her out at second base.
Senior Logan Autry lined a double down the rightfield line, and senior Alanna Ludlum drilled a double to right-centerfield that scored Anderson and Autry. Pait walked, but Ludlum was called out at the plate on Carley Dawson’s fielder’s choice.
After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Singletary hammered a single to centerfield that scored Pait and Carley Dawson and trimmed the lead to 5-4.
“Alanna’s hit was huge,” said Coach Autry. “Sophia had a couple of big hits. I am so proud of the effort. This is a great group of girls.”
Midway tacked on a run in the sixth on an infield hit, a wild pitch and a throwing error to pad the lead to 6-4.
Autry batted 3-3 with a double and a run scored to lead the West Bladen hitters. Singletary finished 2-4 at the plate with 2 runs batted in. Ludlum slammed the 2-run double.
Carley Dawson, Brisson, freshman Kyla Reed and Anderson added one hit each. Brisson and Anderson had one rbi each. Pait and Carley Dawson scored 2 runs each, and Anderson and Abby Dawson scored one run each.
Singletary went the distance in the circle to raise her pitching record to 13-3. The tall righthander pitched around 11 Midway hits in the first 3 innings and gave up 14 hits in the game.
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