Addison Johnson (2) fields the ball and throws it to first base during Scotland’s playoff victory over Cape Fear on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Johnson drew a walk, scored a run and stole two bases in the win.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Kinsey Hamilton (3) puts the ball in play. Hamilton went 1-3 at the plate.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Avery Stutts throws a pitch. Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 13 strikeouts.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Dawson Blue (4) rounds third and heads home to score. Blue had a stolen base and a run scored.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
The Scots will host South Central in the fourth round on Friday night with the winner earning a spot in Regionals.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team moved within one victory of a trip to the Final Four with a 5-2 victory over the Cape Fear Colts on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland moves to 26-1 (25 straight victories) overall on the season with the win while Cape Fear ends their season at 22-6 with the loss.
The Colts had an opportunity to score right off the bat as Amari Adams led the top of the first inning off with a ground ball that resulted in a fielding error before advancing to second on a passed ball and to third on a sacrifice bunt from Kalilah De La Cruz. The next two batters would be retired, however, as Cape Fear came away from the inning scoreless. Avery Stutts would draw a two-out walk in the home half of the inning but nothing would come of it.
Stutts would then strikeout the side in the top of the second frame to keep the game at 0-0, though the Scots couldn’t take advantage as Kinsey Hamilton reaching second on a ground ball that resulted in an error was all they could muster in their half of the inning. Stutts would continue her strong night in the third inning with another three strikeouts but the Scots would go down in order during the bottom of the inning as the game remained in a scoreless stalemate after three.
The Colts finally got their first hit of the contest on a leadoff single from Allie Dawson in the top of the fourth but couldn’t do anything with it as the next three batters would promptly be retired. Scotland had a great chance to break the scoreless tie in the bottom of the frame thanks to a leadoff double from Stutts (courtesy runner was Arianna Brigman). Unfortunately that opportunity would go to waste as Brigman never moved over from second and the game remained deadlocked at 0-0.
Stutts continued to give Scotland a chance as she would strikeout the side again in the top of the fifth. A one-out single from Hamilton in the bottom of the inning gave the Scots another opportunity to finally get a run across but they would fail to capitalize.
Cape Fear finally found a way to break the scoreless tie in their half of the sixth frame, with Adams leading off the inning with a single and advancing to third on an infield single from De La Cruz in which she fouled off eight pitches before reaching first safely. De La Cruz would then steal second before an RBI groundout from Dawson broke the scoreless tie while a two-out RBI double from Addie Davis doubled Cape Fear’s lead to 2-0.
The Scots’ bats would wake up right on time with their season at stake as they would compile four hits within the first six batters (exceptions being Addison Johnson’s leadoff walk and Dawson Blue getting hit by a pitch) in the bottom of the inning to turn what was once a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead without an out having been recorded. A two-RBI single from Stutts tied the game before a two-RBI double from Emily Sampson gave the Scots the lead while a sacrifice fly from Addison Ratley would add onto the advantage and make it 5-2.
After Scotland fell behind in a critical time of the game, Head Coach Adam Romaine kept his message simple: now you have to respond. The faith he has in his team never wavered even as things looked bleak because of the way the Scots always have each other’s backs in vital times.
“This may sound as lame as it gets but all I told the girls was just got to answer the call,” Romaine said. “This team what they’ve got going on in that dugout on this field is and the support they have for each other and backing each other up is what won it tonight. They don’t lose confidence in each other, they know someone is going to pick somebody up and that’s exactly what happened.”
The Colts couldn’t do anything with their last chance in the top of the seventh. All three batters would be retired with two of them being strikeouts.
Stutts and Sampson each had two RBIs to lead the team while Ratley added one. Stutts was the lone Scotland batter to have multiple hits with two. Ramsey Hale, Sampson, Khloe Radford and Hamilton had one hit apiece.
Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 13 strikeouts in the win. She threw 110 pitches (86 strikes) to the 27 batters she faced.
Scotland will host the No. 6 seeded South Central Falcons (who took out South Brunswick with a 3-0 win on Tuesday) on Friday night with the winner earning a spot in Regionals. The Scots did not face South Central this season.
With the Falcons riding the momentum of knocking out the defending state champion Cougars, it serves as a reminder to Romaine that seeds and records do not matter when the playoffs start. A hungry and confident team can make for a dangerous opponent, which is exactly what Romaine is expecting the Falcons to be on Friday night.
“From day one I tell the girls it doesn’t matter what seed you are, we throw that out the window, we throw records out the window, every team coming in here wants to beat you,” Romaine said. “South Central has nothing to lose, they knocked the higher seed off, they’ll be thinking ‘hey we can do it one time, we can do it again.’ We’re going to expect the best team out here and they’re going to come in here and want to beat us, we have to be prepared for it.”