FOUR OAKS —The Lady Scots softball team punched their ticket to the 3A state championship series next weekend with an 8-1 victory over the South Johnston Trojans in Game 2 of their Regionals series on Thursday night at South Johnston High School. Scotland’s second win over the Trojans in three days improved their overall season record to 29-1 (28 straight victories) while South Johnston finishes their 2025 season at 23-3 with the loss.
The Scots got one of their runs in the top of the first inning, one in the second, one in the third, one in the sixth and four more in the seventh while South Johnston got their lone run in the bottom of the second. Scotland outhit the Trojans 9-4 while five total errors (three for South Johnston and two for Scotland) were committed in the game.
Dawson Blue led the way in RBIs with three while going 2-3 at the plate with two runs scored and drew two walks. Addison Ratley led Scotland in hits by going 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Addison Johnson, Avery Stutts and Emily Sampson added one RBI apiece. Johnson, Stutts, Kinsey Hamilton and Marissa Smith had one hit each.
Stutts pitched all seven innings (one run allowed was unearned) and had 11 strikeouts against one walk. She threw 117 pitches (81 strikes) to the 28 batters she faced.
The Scots will now battle the Rockingham County Cougars, who beat Crest by a score of 9-6 on Thursday night to claim their spot as Scotland’s next opponent, in a three-game series for the 3A state championship next Friday and Saturday. The two championship sites for the NCHSAA are Duke’s softball stadium in Durham and UNCG’s softball stadium in Greensboro. It is not confirmed where the series will take place as of this writing.
Head Coach Adam Romaine was at a loss for words with how proud he was of his team after the win on Thursday night. That said, his focus and message remains clear: there is still more work to be done next weekend.
“These girls are rolling, this team right here is just so amazing, I can’t even put into words how overjoyed I am for them,” Romaine said. “It’s been a fun ride so far but it’s not over, we’ve got two more games we’ve got to take care of next week.”