Lady Scots softball dominates Union Pines, baseball rebounds with win over Pinecrest

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team picked up a 9-0 victory over the Union Pines Vikings on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 14-1 (9-0 against conference opponents) on the season with their 13th win in a row while Union Pines falls to 9-7 (6-2 in conference games) with their second straight loss. The Scots took both regular season meetings from the Vikings after winning the first matchup in Cameron back on March 11, also by a score of 9-0.

Head Coach Adam Romaine knew how important this matchup would be in the conference standings as Scotland looks to win their fourth consecutive SAC title in the coming weeks. While work remains to be done for his team, taking care of the team closest to them in the standings in convincing fashion is a big step toward accomplishing that goal.

“Great, big win because this is the second place team and we knew we had to beat them to maintain our spot on top and maintain our chance to hold onto another conference title,” Romaine said. “We still got three games to worry about in conference but this is the big one we knew we had to get.”

After a scoreless first frame, the Scots would get on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the second. Addison Lewis and Kinsey Hamilton would both get singles to start the inning before Marissa Smith reached base safely on an error to score Lewis and advance Hamilton to second with two outs. Hamilton would then advance to third on a passed ball before an Addison Johnson RBI single scored her to make it 2-0.

Avery Stutts sent the Vikings down in order in the top of the third and would drive in Dawson Blue with an RBI double in the home half of the third to extend Scotland’s lead to 3-0. Blue got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before scoring on the double from Stutts.

After Stutts’ hit, 12 batters in a row would be retired between the two teams. Scotland then had a big fifth inning where they scored five runs to blow the game open.

Johnson led off the inning with a single before Blue hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0. Singles from Stutts and Ramsey Hale, an intentional walk to Hamilton, a walk to Emily Sampson, a fielding error by the Vikings and a fielder’s choice helped contribute to the big inning where the Scots led 8-0 by the end.

Blue would add to her terrific night with a single to lead off the bottom of the sixth before stealing second. She would then score on an RBI single from Hale to make it 9-0 heading into the seventh. Despite a lead off double from Serena McCutchen, the Vikings couldn’t do anything with it as Stutts promptly sent the next three batters down on strikeouts to end the game.

Blue led the team in RBIs with two while going 2-3 from the plate and also scoring three runs (also a team high). Stutts led the team in hits with a 3-4 night at the plate along with an RBI and a run scored. Hale and Johnson both had two hits, an RBI and a run scored.

Stutts pitched all seven innings and allowed just one hit while striking out 16 batters and walking none. She threw 95 pitches (72 strikes) to the 22 batters she faced.

The Scots will remain at home for a battle with the Midway Raiders on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Scotland took the first meeting between the teams in Dunn by a score of 1-0 (in 10 innings) back on Feb. 26.

Despite winning the first matchup, the Scots had a hard time solving Sarah Autry, who held them to three hits while Scotland struck out 14 times. Whether the Raiders use Autry or sophomore Kyleigh Stonerock, Romaine is fully expecting a stiff test for Scotland’s offense.

“Right now they are killing the ball, their pitcher is lights out,” Romaine said. “She kept us off track for 10 innings the first time, we’re expecting a major pitching battle for sure coming in.”

Baseball snaps losing streak with win over Pinecrest

The Scots beat the Patriots in a 5-4 final on Friday night at McCoy Field. Scotland snaps their three-game losing streak and improves to 9-6 (5-3 in conference games) on the season with the victory while Pinecrest falls to 10-6 (6-2 against conference opponents) with their second straight loss. The Scots were able to salvage a series split of the regular season series after the Patriots took the first meeting in Southern Pines on Tuesday night by a score of 11-1.

Head Coach Ricky Schattauer knows how good of a team Pinecrest has been for years. He liked how his team didn’t shy away from the challenge in front of them, especially after just losing to them earlier this week. He especially praised Garrett Manning, who has been playing through an ankle injury.

“Pinecrest has always been good and we know that when we play them this week for our kids they say is the biggest week on the schedule,” Schattauer said. “I tip my hats to Manning, he’s been hobbling on an ankle but he didn’t show any injury tonight, he put our team on his back and gave us a great outing.”

The game would start off a bit slow offensively as the first five batters would be retired, including two strikeouts. Kaden Hunsucker and Manning would then both get on base with singles before Blane Callahan would be hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Robbie Peed would also be hit by a pitch to bring in the first run of the contest before Briley Lewis drove in Josh Smith (courtesy runner for Manning) with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

After a scoreless second frame, Pinecrest would get a run back in the top of the third, though the damage could’ve been a lot worse for Scotland. The first three batters (Jack Trythall, JC Woolard and David Wiley) all hit singles to load the bases with no outs. After Trythall and Woolard both got out on the base path, Will Chopping drove in Wiley with an RBI single to make it 2-1.

The Scots would respond with two runs in the bottom of the fourth as Dawson Williams got the train going with a double and advanced to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Maddox Locklear. Hunsucker then managed to reach second base safely on a fielder’s choice before Manning was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. A clutch two-out single from Peed would score both Williams and Hunsucker, who scored on the throw to enhance Scotland’s advantage to 4-1.

After an uneventful fifth inning where both teams went down in order, the Patriots would get a run back in the top of the sixth. Mitch Baek led off the inning with a single before being lifted for a pinch runner in Cody Hansen. A two-out RBI single from Bryson Partington cut Scotland’s lead to 4-2.

The Scots would add an insurance run that wound up being very important in their half of the inning. Williams and Locklear would reach base safely on a single and fielder’s choice respectively before a double play followed. Manning would then be intentionally walked with Smith coming in as a courtesy runner and being given second base on a balk that scored Williams to make it 5-2.

The Patriots wouldn’t go quietly, starting their last chance off with a single from Rhett Besterman and a double from Woolard to give Pinecrest runners on second and third with no outs. Wiley would strikeout before Eythan Reynolds drove in both Besterman and Woolard with a single to make it a one-run game. Manning would right the ship in time and retire the next two batters to preserve a hard fought victory.

Peed led the Scots in RBIs with three on a 1-2 night from the plate while Lewis collected the other RBI while going 1-3 from the plate. Williams, Hunsucker and Manning had two hits apiece.

Manning pitched all seven innings and allowed four earned runs while striking out nine batters with two walks. He threw 92 pitches (65 strikes) to the 32 batters he faced.

The Scots will remain at home on Tuesday night for a matchup with the Lee County Yellow Jackets at 7 p.m. The teams will also meet in Sanford on Friday night.

Moving forward, Schattauer feels good about how this win can provide a spark to his team. He referenced Scotland’s eight-game losing streak to end the season a year ago as a sign of growth in how the Scots were able to put their most current losing streak behind them and focus on the task at hand.

“It’s a big boost confidence wise, bring our team together as one, the last outing we had you could see the frustration in the team losing three in a row,” Schattauer said. “Thursday we came out to practice and I felt like everything was a competition and it showed tonight, it leads us for the rest of the year on a high note, last year we had this and we couldn’t get out of our own way.”