PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry softball made its 2022 debut at Jack Palmer Field on March 14 after opening the season with four away games.
East faced undefeated South Stokes with hopes of redeeming a loss seven days prior – and nearly did just that.
The Cardinals held a 3-1 lead heading into the seventh inning having held the Sauras to just four hits. However, South rattled off four more hits in just the seventh inning to score five runs. South Stokes pitcher Madison Wilson capped off a strong overall performance with three strikeouts in the bottom of the inning to secure the 6-3 victory.
Emily Mitchell threw the first 2.1 innings for the Sauras before Wilson came to the mound. A Cardinal rally in the bottom of the third, which resulted in all three of East’s runs, led to the pitching change.
East Surry (1-4) put two runners on base in the first two innings, but neither was the result of a hit; one was a base on balls and the error via a South fielding error. Sara Scott changed that in the bottom of the third with a double down the left field line. Leadoff Rosie Craven bunted to move Scott to third while beating the throw to first herself.
The Cardinals scored their first run on an RBI single hit by Elise Marion. Addy Sechrist, running for Marion, stole second with Riley Pennington at the plate, then Pennington scored Craven and Sechrist with a 2RBI double.
Wilson took Mitchell’s spot on the mound and struck out back-to-back batters to end the inning. Wilson faced 14 batters in her 4.2 innings, and only two put the ball into play: Craven flied out in the bottom of the fifth, and Clara Willard grounded out in the bottom of the sixth. Wilson struck out the other 12 batters to bring South’s total strikeout count to 14.
The Sauras (6-0) scored their first run early in the game. Sydney Patterson singled with two outs in the first inning, then Mitchell scored her teammate with an RBI double. South wouldn’t get past second base again until there were two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
Pennington pitched all seven innings for East Surry, throwing six strikeouts, zero base on balls and allowing one run through the first six innings. Then in the seventh inning, Pennington threw her first walk but it was sandwiched between two ground outs.
With the game on the line, Mackenzie Smith hit an RBI single to left-center to cut East Surry’s lead to 3-2. Smith advanced to second on a Wilson single, then a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Another wild pitch allowed Smith to score the tying run, then Rebecca Amos followed it up with an RBI single that scored Wilson.
Patterson hit an RBI double to the right field fence to score Amos and make it 5-3 South. A Cardinal fielding error on a ground ball hit by Mitchell scored the game’s final run, then Pennington threw her seventh strikeout.
Wilson sent all three Cardinal batters back to the dugout in the bottom of the seventh to keep the Sauras’ undefeated season alive.
Scoring
South Stokes – 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5 = 6
East Surry – 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 3
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com