Defensive miscues down Lady Scots against South View

LAURINBURG — For the first four innings of Thursday night’s nonconference contest between the Lady Scots softball team (9-3) and the South View Tigers (11-1), the Lady Scots held a 2-0 lead and seemed nearly unstoppable.

For the final three innings however, they looked anything but that.

Five errors across the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings of play would prove to be the difference in the game, as the Tigers roared back to defeat the Lady Scots 6-2.

“Errors are gonna hurt you no matter what and that’s really where we just beat ourselves,” Lady Scots head coach Adam Romaine said. “Top of the fifth…we had the little meltdown there and the error, misplayed a ball, (and) misplayed another ball. Top of the sixth, we were still okay up 2-1, and I’m just saying hey, we just work our way through 2-3-4 here, then we’re good cause they (South View) will have middle to bottom of the lineup in the top of the seventh, and that’s where we’d been having no problem with them.”

The sixth inning was where the Lady Scots hurt themselves the most though, as they recorded three errors that led to four South View runs.

“Defensively, we’re still working on a lot of things,” Romaine said. “We have been bent a few times in some games. Where we’ve bent, we’ve had such a big lead, it didn’t show as much. I said ‘sooner or later, it’s gonna bite us in the butt in a tight game,’ and a prime example tonight.”

With back-to-back outs in the fifth and no runners on base, the Tigers seemed to be heading into the sixth still scoreless. But, just two pitches into her at bat, Jasmine Wagner sparked a momentous push for South View with a line drive triple to right field. Savanna Delp brought in Wagner, after she reached first off an error by Carleigh McKeithan, to make it a 2-1 score with the Lady Scots still in front.

In the sixth, South View’s Katelynn Swain singled on a ground ball to left field in the Tigers’ first at bat of the inning. After Swain stole second base, Jordynn Parnell knocked a line drive to center field and reached on an error from Addison Johnson. Parnell advanced to third on the same error, which scored Swain. Savanna Hardee’s sac fly moments later brought in Parnell to give South View a 3-2 lead.

After Jessica Penfield hit a line drive single to center field, Paige Ford gave the Tigers their second out of the inning with a fly out. Kaylie Cook seemed to have South View’s third out with a ground ball to second base, but reached on an error to continue the inning. Another error on a ground ball hit from Wagner helped her reach first to load the bases and score Penfield. McKeithan stopped the damage with a throw to first on a Delp liner to end the inning.

After the Lady Scots’ Madison Dixon was left on first base in the sixth, Swain and Parnell added two more runs in the seventh for the Tigers.

Sydnee Dial pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Lady Scots before being relieved by Avery Stutts, who allowed one hit in 1/3 innings pitched, in the seventh. Dial allowed six runs on six hits, two errors, one walk, and struck out six, taking the loss.

“Sydnee (Dial) was pitching very good,” Romaine said. “(She was) working every spot, hitting every spot; we gave her some offensive support there early.”

The Lady Scots scored their first run of the night from Dial in the second. Dial was walked to get on base, then advanced to third off a bunt from Natalie Smith. Six pitches later, Dial was brought in on a sac fly to right field from McKeithan.

The Lady Scots struck again in the third, when Dawson Blue went yard for her lone hit of the game, and the eventual last run for the Lady Scots.

Parnell earned the win for South View with a complete game, allowing two runs on six hits, two errors, and two walks, while striking out seven.

Blue, Stutts, Dial, Smith, McKeithan, and Lindsay Locklear recorded a hit each for the Lady Scots; Blue and McKeithan had an RBI each.

Swain and Penfield recorded two hits each for South View; Hardee had a team-high two RBIs.

The Lady Scots finished with seven errors total on the night.

The loss for the Lady Scots is the second this season against South View, with the first occurring in a 2-0 decision on March 8 in Fayetteville.

Despite their difficulties against the Tigers, Romaine said he feels it’s always a good thing to face challenging competition, no matter the outcome.

“Phil (Dean) has a great program over there,” Romaine said. “They’re first place in their conference, but I knew playing them last year, I mean they were loaded. They were led by sophomores, a couple juniors and seniors, two freshmen; I’m like oh, I’ve got to keep him on the schedule and he said yes, I’d love to play. I want to play better teams like that; I want these girls to be able to play these teams. This is a playoff-caliber type team; this is a team you have to beat in the playoffs. That’s why I try to put them on our nonconference schedule; try to beef it up and make it as hard as I can. Nothing against our conference but part of it is, it’s just not challenging enough and we know we don’t have that strong pitching in spots in our conference, so I have to hopefully find it out there in our nonconference games. But, we’re gonna learn from it. We’re gonna make our adjustments and do what we need to do and move forward.”

The Lady Scots head to Raeford for their next game, as they take on the Hoke County Bucks Friday at 7 p.m. In their previous meeting this season on March 7, the Lady Scots defeated the Bucks 5-0 in Laurinburg.