Bladen County 15, Lee County 4
WILLIAMSTON – The Bladen County 10U All-Stars exploded for 15 runs to remain undefeated in the SWAC State Softball Tournament Saturday afternoon. The bats matched the heat of the day but the heat did not slow down the runners as Bladen County collected six hits and used relentless base running to get the victory.
Bladen pitcher Rylee Chadwick struck out three batters in the top of the first inning but Lee County pushed across a run when one batter was hit by a pitch and scored off an errant throw after a passed ball.
Addie Bowen, Rylee Chadwick, and Emma Turbeville led off the bottom of the first inning with walks. Bowen and Chadwick both scored on the same passed ball as the Lee catcher overthrew the pitcher covering home allowing Chadwick to score.
MacKenzie Singletary belted a single to leftfield to score Turbeville. After Lainey Hughes walked, Madison Taylor cracked a two-out single to left-centerfield that scored Singletary and Hughes.
Taylor made it to third but was hit in the arm by a hard line drive off the bat of Zoe Smith and was briefly removed from the game. Smith later walked and Laci Storms grounded to the pitcher to end the inning with a 5-1 Bladen lead.
Gracie Faircloth took the mound in the top of the second for Bladen County and gave up three runs on a couple of walks and passed balls but helped her cause by picking off a Lee County runner at first base.
Faircloth threw a batted ball to Singletary at first to get the second out, and Hughes gunned down a runner at first after fielding a grounder.
Bowen led off the bottom half of the second with a walk. Chadwick legged out an infield single before Turbeville smoked a hard grounder to the third baseman that forced out Bowen. Chadwick and Turbeville both stole bases on the throwback to the pitcher, and Chadwick dashed home on a passed ball.
Hughes hammered a double to left-centerfield that drove in Turbeville. An errant throw on the play scored Hughes. Lena Trinidad walked but was caught stealing. Speedster Molly Evans walked, stole second, then third on the throwback before galloping home on a passed ball to finish the inning with a 10-4 lead.
Taylor pitched the final inning giving up no runs and one hit while striking out three Lee County batters.
Bladen County ended the game by the mercy rule in the bottom half of the third inning. Bowen led the inning off with a bloop single, and Chadwick ripped a line drive over the shortstop’s head. Singletary smacked a ball through the shortstop’s legs, and Hughes drew a walk. All four runners were able to score on passed balls or errant throws with aggressive base running.
The three Bladen County pitchers were able to strike out six batters while giving up only one hit.
Chadwick, Turbeville, Singletary, and Hughes all crossed the plate three times. Bowen scored two times and Evans also scooted home. Chadwick led all hitters with two hits. Hughes slammed the run-scoring double, and Bowen, Singletary and Taylor added one hit each. Taylor drove in 2 runs, and Singletary knocked in one run.
About Author
