Scotland softball advances to Final Four with shutout win over South Central

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team advanced to the Final Four of the 3A NCHSAA state playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the South Central Falcons on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 27-1 (26 straight wins) on the season overall while the Falcons end their season at 20-7 with the loss.

South Central had a chance to get a run in the top of the first as Kamdyn Haislip would reach first on a infield grounder that resulted in an error before advancing to second on a one-out single from Haven Roebuck. Avery Stutts would strikeout the next two batters, however, as nothing came of the early threat.

The Scots would also have a chance to get the game’s first run in their half of the first as Addison Johnson led the inning off with a bunt single and immediately stole second and third base. Stutts would then draw a one-out walk (courtesy runner was Addison Lewis) before Lewis stole second to give Scotland two runners in scoring position. They would fail to capitalize, however, as the game remained scoreless after an inning.

The Falcons added another hit in the top of the second on a leadoff single from Somer Davenport, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Hailey Mickey. Stutts again would strikeout the next two batters to keep the contest tied at 0-0. The Scots couldn’t do anything in their half of the second as Kinsey Hamilton reaching on an error with one out was the only base runner they had as a double play would promptly end the inning.

South Central again got some base runners in their half of the third thanks to a one-out single from Blaire Adee and an error on a ground ball from Roebuck. As if according to script, Stutts again struck out the following two batters to keep the Falcons off the board.

Scotland would then finally get on the board first in the bottom of the third frame. Johnson drew a one-out walk and stole second before an RBI double from Stutts with two outs brought her home to make it 1-0.

South Central continued to give themselves chances to score in the top of the fourth as Davenport added another leadoff single to her night but saw her courtesy runner (Avery Williams) get thrown out trying to steal second. Two more strikeouts from Stutts quickly squashed another Falcons scoring opportunity. The Scots couldn’t do much in their half of the inning as a a one-out walk to Khloe Radford was all they could muster and their lead remained 1-0.

Haislip would reach first in South Central’s top of the fifth on a ground ball that resulted in a fielding error with one out but nothing came out of it as the Scots continued to hold a 1-0 advantage heading into the home half of the fifth. Scotland then added onto their lead in the bottom of the inning, starting with double from Dawson Blue with two outs. After Stutts was intentionally walked (courtesy runner was Lewis), Blue would steal third and then score as the attempted throw to get her out went into the outfield and made it 2-0.

For the first time in the game, the Falcons failed to have a base runner in the top of the sixth as all three batters went down in order. The Scots then added another insurance run in their half of the inning, with Emily Sampson leading the frame off with a single and scoring on a bunt from Radford that saw the throw go into the outfield and bring Radford all the way to third. Stutts then had no issue closing the Falcons out in their last chance, promptly retiring all three batters.

Head Coach Adam Romaine knows that with an incredible pitcher in Stutts on his side, the Scots nabbing a lead is always vital to put the other team on their heels. That said, he was happy to see the Scots continue to put pressure on the Falcons as the game went on and get some important insurance runs to seal the deal.

“All season long when we finally broke the ice and got that one across the board it seemed like we found a way to get another one and another one and the flood gates might open,” Romaine said. “Tonight with the one we got in the third I knew in my mind one run is not going to win this game right now and I kept that pressure on the girls to know that we still needed some offensive output there.”

Stutts had the team’s lone RBI thanks to her double in the third inning and went 1-1 from the plate while drawing two walks. Johnson, Blue and Sampson added one hit apiece. Both teams had four hits and three errors in the game.

Romaine wasn’t thrilled with all of the errors his team committed and thought they took a bit too long to make changes at the plate. However, he was happy to see them come through offensively when it mattered the most and be able to learn through some things in a win that wasn’t always perfect.

“We had some hiccups tonight, it was a great win, big win, we’re moving on but we did some things that we’re not usually doing anytime this year,” Romaine said. “We had some errors in the field that were mental errors and at bat we just didn’t make our adjustments like we should have. We had the timely hits, I’m happy about that, the ones who stepped up they made their adjustments and have been doing it all year long.”

Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 10 strikeouts. She threw 86 pitches (66 strikes) to the 27 batters she faced.

Scotland will now face the No. 5 seeded South Johnston Trojans in a best of three series for the right to advance to the state championship series. The Scots as the No. 2 seed will have two of the games (first and third) at home if necessary.

Regionals begin on Tuesday night and are concluded by Saturday. The winner of the series will face the victor of the matchup between Crest and Rockingham County.

With a three-game series now on the horizon rather than a one-game elimination, Romaine is keeping Scotland’s focus the same as it has been all season. He is not of the mindset that the Scots can loosen up now that they have a slightly bigger margin for error and isn’t about to make any major changes to Scotland’s approach.

“We can’t loosen in anything even though it’s a three-game series,” Romaine said. “A good team is going to make their adjustments against a good pitcher, they’re going to see Avery two games in a row. It works both ways, we’re just going to take it one game at a time like we’ve done in the playoffs all year.”