All season the girls of the Scotland High School JV softball team have pointed to the two conference games against Richmond Senior High School as the key to their season's success.

On Tuesday, the Scots went a long way toward securing that success, defeating the Raiders 6-2 with consistent hitting and another top shelf pitching performance form starter Cori Newton. The game, held in Laurinburg, was originally scheduled for last Friday but was postponed due to rain.

Scotland head coach Joel McCanna had planned to have Newton and standout pitcher Taylor Hale split time against the Raiders, but all that came crashing down with Hale last week when she collapsed at the plate against Hoke County with a torn ACL.

While the extent of Hale's injury is not yet known, what was known heading into Tuesday's game was that the burden to shut down the high powered Raiders offense was now placed firmly on Newton's shoulders.

Newton responded by allowing only three hits and two runs, while walking four with three strikeouts over seven innings.

"She did a great job," commented Scotland coach Joel McCanna following the clash between border rivals.

"The pressure was all on her, and she accepted it, worked hard and pitched a fabulous game."

It was Richmond who jumped out to an early lead, scoring in the top of the first before Scotland came back to tie the game with a run of their own in the bottom of the same inning.

In the third inning Richmond again took the lead, scoring another run to go up by one. Scotland almost responded in the fourth, and in the fifth broke through to tie the game up at 2-2.

"Early in the game we put the ball in play, but we hit everything to (Richmond)," said McCanna.

That all would change in the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Scots continued hitting efforts paid off in the form of four runs.

"We began to hit it in the holes, and Richmond didn't get to sit still," McCanna said.

Providing the offense for Scotland were Ashley Paolozzi (3-for-4), Ayanna Morrison (2-for-3), Sarah Cross (1-for-3), Alexis Mishue (1-for-3) and Paige Butler (1-for-3), all of whom crossed the plate for Scotland.

In preparation for Richmond McCanna had his team take batting practice against a pitching machine both sped up and moved closer.

"They have the best pitching we have faced," said McCanna.

McCanna fully expects for the end-of-season rematch between the two teams to decide whether or not Scotland will be undefeated Mid-Southeastern Conference champions or co-champions with Richmond County.

"We don't want to share it," the coach said.

If Hale misses the remainder of the season, Newton is likely to pitch in every game the Scots have left.

By beating Richmond Scotland continues their undefeated streak, moving their record out to 11-0 and 5-0 in conference.

SHS hosts Westover at 5 p.m. on Thursday.