Scots take Game 1 against South Johnston

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team took Game 1 of a three-game Regionals series against the South Johnston Trojans by a score of 7-2 on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. Scotland moves to 28-1 (27 straight wins) overall on the season with the victory while South Johnston suffers their first loss since Feb. 28 and falls to 23-2 with the defeat.

Even though Scotland’s season wasn’t on the line Tuesday night, Head Coach Adam Romaine emphasized to his team just how important the first game is in any series, especially in a best of three. Being able to pick up a multiple run victory over a team that hasn’t allowed a run in nearly three weeks (May 1 was last time before Tuesday) was a big confidence boost for Romaine and company heading into Game 2.

“That’s something we talked about all day in practice yesterday and before the game tonight,” Romaine said. “Win first game is big, the fashion we won it was nice, we did what we had to do to win.”

The Trojans immediately put pressure on Scotland’s defense thanks to a leadoff single from Lannah Price and a sacrifice bunt from Olivia Crumpler to move Price over to second. After Reese Penny drew a one-out walk, Price and Penny would each take the next base thanks to a passed ball, giving South Johnston two runners in scoring position with one out. The scoring opportunity would go to waste, however, as Avery Stutts calmly retired the next two batters to keep the game scoreless.

The Scots then promptly went to work in their half of the first frame, starting with a one-out single from Dawson Blue (who stole second and third) and a walk to Stutts (courtesy runner was Marissa Smith). A two-RBI double from Ramsey Hale then gave Scotland a 2-0 lead. Emily Sampson would follow up Hale’s hit with a single of her own before Khloe Radford hit a ground ball that resulted in a fielder’s choice and Hale reaching home to extend the Scots’ lead to 3-0.

Stutts would make quick work of the Trojans in the top of the second as they went down 1-2-3. The Scots had a chance to add onto their lead further in their half of the inning, starting with a leadoff walk to Addison Ratley, a bunt single from Addison Lewis and a sacrifice bunt from Addison Johnson to give them two runners in scoring position with just one out. They failed to capitalize, however, as Scotland’s lead remained 3-0 after two innings.

The third frame would be pretty similar to the second, starting with Stutts retiring all three South Johnston batters in the top of the inning. Scotland then got a leadoff single from Hale, a ground ball from Sampson that resulted in an error and a sacrifice bunt from Radford to put Hale and Sampson on third and second respectively. Neither would reach home, keeping the game at 3-0.

Stutts continued to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, retiring all three batters and striking out two. Scotland then would blow the contest open with a four-run bottom of the inning.

Consecutive one-out singles from Johnson (who stole second and third) and Blue (RBI single) got the party started and brought Scotland’s advantage up to 4-0. Blue would then steal second before Stutts was hit by a pitch (Smith in as a courtesy runner); Blue then took third and scored on an error to make it 5-0 (Hale walked during the at bat). Smith then scored on an error during a pickoff attempt while Sampson hit a line drive that resulted in another fielding error to score Hale and put the Scots up by a touchdown at 7-0.

The fifth inning would come and go with no runs on either side. There would be just one hit, a one-out single from Blue.

South Johnston finally got on the board in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs. Price would reach safely with a one-out single and steal second before a two-run homer (with two outs) by Penny cut Scotland’s lead to 7-2.

The Scots had a pair of base runners in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-out walk to Radford and an error on a ground ball from Kinsey Hamilton but no runs came out of it. Kaylee Cox led the top of the seventh inning off with a single but never moved any further as Stutts quickly retired the next three batters to officially extinguish any hope of a comeback.

Hale led the team in RBIs with two while going 2-3 at the plate with two runs scored. Blue led the way in hits with a 3-4 night with an RBI and two runs scored.

Radford added an RBI and a hit while Johnson, Sampson and Lewis had one hit each. Scotland outhit the Trojans 9-4 in the game while South Johnston committed five errors.

Stutts pitched all seven innings and had 10 strikeouts against one walk. She threw 87 pitches (63 strikes) to the 26 batters she faced.

Scotland will look to punch their ticket to the 3A state championship series on Thursday night when they travel to Four Oaks for Game 2. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. On the west side of the bracket, Rockingham County took Game 1 over Crest in a 1-0 final.

While the Scots now have the series advantage, don’t expect the Scots to at all let up on the intensity heading into Thursday night. Romaine was quick to stress how vital it is that Scotland goes into game 2 with the same focus and attention to detail. He is expecting the Trojans to make adjustments and knows the Scots have to be prepared for a different South Johnston team than the one they saw Tuesday.

“That’s the emphasis we’re going to put in practice tomorrow, the emphasis we’re going to put when we get there,” Romaine said. “This team’s not going to fold, they’re going to go back and make their adjustments tomorrow at practice. We’re going to expect a better game from them, we’re expecting them to make adjustments, those are the things we’re going to push tomorrow at practice.”