Scotland softball and baseball pick up home wins over Hoke County

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team defeated the visiting Hoke County Bucks by a score of 5-1 on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 2-1 (1-0 in conference games) on the season with the victory while Hoke County suffers their first loss of the season and falls to 3-1 (0-1 against SAC opponents).

Head Coach Adam Romaine was pleased with the offensive showing as a whole and liked the way his team got bats on the ball. After scoring just one run over their two games last week, that was a focus for Romaine coming into Tuesday’s contest.

“Proud of the way we put the ball in play tonight,” Romaine said. “We hit more middle to top half of balls, line drive hits and ground balls, something we didn’t do last week when we were under the ball a lot and making a lot of easy outs.”

After sending the Bucks down in order during the top of the first, Avery Stutts got the Scots their first hit of the game on a two-out single in the bottom of the first then saw an RBI-double from Madison Dixon get Scotland on the board first. Dixon went 1-3 from the plate in her first game of the season as she returned from the basketball team competing in the state playoffs.

Having Dixon back was a notable difference in Scotland’s lineup. Romaine liked what he saw in her first game back and was especially thankful for how her presence as a catcher can help Stutts.

“She hadn’t skipped a beat,” Romaine said. “She hit the ball well tonight and it’s always good to have her back behind the plate, her connection with Avery back there is always a blessing.”

After drawing a pair of walks in the home half of the second, Kinsey Hamilton got Scotland their second run of the contest on an RBI-single. Addison Lewis would add two more on another RBI-single that increased the Scots’ advantage up to 4-0.

Stutts would get Scotland’s final run of the game on a homer to lead of the bottom of the fifth, Stutts’ second home run in three games to start the season. On the mound, Stutts had a no-hitter going until the top of the sixth inning, when Hoke County would get their lone run of the contest on singles from Chica Amador (advanced to second on a passed ball) and Shaniya McLean (RBI). Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 15 strikeouts against zero walks with the run allowed being unearned.

Scotland had seven hits in the game as a team with six different players registering at least one hit. Romaine thought the team could’ve had even more as he gave credit to Hoke County Head Coach Heather Glass for defensive adjustments that robbed the Scots of doing potential further offensive damage.

“We hit some hard hit balls tonight, we hit them at girls,” Romaine said. “Their coach is a good coach, she knows what type of hitters we got. Some of those balls in a regular played defense would have been doubles in the gap or doubles down the line, applaud them for adjusting their defense to our offense.”

The Scots are set to face the South View Tigers (4-0) at home on Wednesday night, though the incoming weather may cause the contest to get rescheduled. The game will start at 7 p.m.

Baseball defeats Hoke County in conference opener

The Scotland baseball squad picked up an 8-1 victory over Hoke County on Tuesday night at McCoy Field. The Scots were able to rebound from Thursday night’s home loss to Purnell Swett and improve to 2-1 (1-0 against conference opponents) on the season with the win while the Bucks remain winless and fall to 0-3 (0-1 in conference games) with the loss.

Coming off of a loss where Scotland had more errors than hits (5-1), Head Coach Ricky Schattauer was pleased with how his team responded on Tuesday night. With a long-term vision of the conference standings in mind, each contest against an SAC opponent is especially valuable.

“I told them in the huddle that a win is a win, it was good to get back after that loss to Purnell Swett,” Schattauer said. “I don’t care who your opponent is, the way to become conference champs is by winning the first one.”

After getting multiple baserunners but not scoring over the first two innings, the Scots would break through with a huge bottom of the third by scoring four runs and sending eight batters to the plate. Dawson Williams would get the party started by leading off the inning with a single then scoring on a Maddox Locklear fly ball to left field that resulted in a Hoke County error and put Locklear at third.

Garrett Manning then hit another fly ball, resulting in another Bucks fielding error and Locklear scoring while Manning made it second. Blane Callahan was then hit by a pitch before Dylan Tilson reached safely on a bunt single, scoring Manning in the process. Josh Smith would add an RBI-double to score Tilson.

Scotland would add two more runs in the home half of the fourth with Kaden Hunsucker leading off the inning on a line drive and reaching second safely on a Hoke County fielding error and then scoring on an RBI-triple from Williams. Williams then scored on a wild pitch and also added an RBI-single in the bottom of the fifth. Cameron Cole would get Scotland’s final run of the night on a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth.

Tilson got the win as the Scots’ starting pitcher, giving the team five innings and striking out eight batters while Robbie Peed completed the rest without any hits or walks allowed. Connor Oldham took the loss for the Bucks.

Williams went 3-4 from the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Scotland had 12 hits as a team.

Schattauer liked the way the Scots were able to put the ball in play with more frequency. While losses are never a good thing, Schattauer believes that the loss to the Rams last week was a good learning point of not trying to do to much and keeping things simple.

“I thought we came out of the gates kind of slow,” Schattauer said. “Once we put some runs on the board I felt like we relaxed and the balls started flying.”

Scotland will be back in action on Thursday night against St. Pauls (1-2). First pitch from McCoy Field is scheduled for 6 p.m.