The Scots celebrate a home run by Dawson Blue (4) at home plate during Scotland’s 3-1 victory over the South Brunswick Cougars on Monday night at Scotland High School.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Avery Stutts (17) throws a pitch. Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 11 strikeouts while allowing just one run.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Madison Dixon (10) drives in a pair of runs with a two-RBI single during the first inning.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
The Scots throw the ball around the infield after a strikeout from Stutts.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team defeated the South Brunswick Cougars, the defending 3A state champions, by a score of 3-1 on Monday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 6-1 on the season with their fifth straight victory while South Brunswick suffers their first loss since April 19 of the 2024 season and falls to 6-1. The Scots were able to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Cougars back on Feb. 28 and split their two regular season meetings, as was the case in 2024.
Head Coach Adam Romaine acknowledged using the loss earlier this season as fuel but also knew that the stakes were naturally high because of the quality of opponent. This time around, Romaine felt like the Scots were more prepared even if they’re still tweaking some things game to game.
“I always try to use that as motivation but they’re the returning state champions and they’re the state champions until they lose that crown,” Romaine said. “We didn’t have all of our pieces to the puzzle ready for that first game, we’re still working on some pieces because I’m on my seventh lineup in seven games.”
Avery Stutts would start the game off on the right foot for the Scots defensively by striking out the side in the top of the first. Scotland would then take advantage of the momentum in their half of the inning, starting with a single from Dawson Blue, who would then steal both second and third base. Stutts would then be hit by a pitch but get pulled for a courtesy runner in Khloe Radford, who would safely steal second.
Madison Dixon then drove in Blue and Radford with a two-RBI single to give Scotland a 2-0 lead. The runs obtained by the Scots were the first allowed by South Brunswick pitcher Kina Davis all season.
Romaine knew that getting some offense early in the game was going to be key if Scotland wanted to win. Romaine explained after the contest that the Scots adjusted their hitting routine before Monday’s contest in a way that would help them prepare for everything Davis has thrown at them in the past and would throw at them again.
“One thing we did tonight was have the girls come out about an hour earlier than we usually do for our pregame hitting,” Romaine said. “We brought the machine out and hit off of pitching we knew she threw us, middle off of the plate and above the hands. The girls all claimed that helped them see the ball and they made a huge adjustment to her this time.”
After a scoreless second, Scotland would add onto their lead in the bottom of the third on a solo homer from Blue. Davis would get one of the runs back herself in the top of the fourth on a solo homer off of Stutts.
The rest of the game was rather uneventful as both sides went down in order during each half inning except for Scotland in their half of the sixth. In that frame Stutts led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a line drive from Addison Johnson into right field that was ruled an error and allowed Johnson to reach second, though Scotland did not get any runs out of it.
Stutts pitched all seven innings for Scotland on the mound and had a perfect game outside of the solo homer allowed to Davis. Stutts had 11 strikeouts and zero walks.
Scotland as a team outhit the Cougars 5-1. Blue led the Scots in hits with a 2-3 night at the plate along with an RBI and two runs scored. Dixon led the team in RBIs with two.
The Scots will return to conference action when they head to Pinecrest on Tuesday night for a matchup with the Patriots (2-5 overall and 1-2 in conference games). The game will start at 7 p.m. They will be back at home on Friday night for a meeting with the Lee County Yellow Jackets.
Even though Pinecrest and Lee County both currently carry below .500 records (Lee County is 2-4 with a matchup on Tuesday against Richmond), Romaine is not in the mindset that Scotland can coast through those games. He told his team after Monday’s victory that conference games carry a ton of importance and always require coming ready to play.
“Conference games are huge and that’s why I tell the girls we have to go right back in and focus,” Romaine said. “We can’t take anybody lightly.”