Scotland’s Avery Stutts throws a pitch in the 2023 Live Like Madison game against Marlboro County in Laurinburg.
                                 File photo

Scotland’s Avery Stutts throws a pitch in the 2023 Live Like Madison game against Marlboro County in Laurinburg.

File photo

LAURINBURG — The Scotland Fighting Scots softball team beat the Hoke County Bucks 13-1 in five innings in Thursday’s annual Live Like Madison game honoring Madison Fedak, a Scotland County native who passed away from Osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in 2019 at the age of 7.

“It’s always a blessing to do it,” Scotland coach Adam Romaine said. “And the girls, this is the foundation they picked. They wanted to do it when we talked about this three years ago about starting a cancer awareness game. And for Laura (Fedak) to be here every year, it’s even a blessing too. It touches a lot home ‘cause it’s a hometown thing. And the girls get up for the game. They’re always getting excited about the game.”

The Live Like Madison game was originally to be played on Monday, April 22, against Marlboro County, but that game was canceled earlier this week.

Scotland (12-1, 8-0 Sandhills Athletic Conference) used a nine-run third inning to take an 11-0 lead after scoring two in the second; Scotland scored another pair of runs in the fourth. Hoke County (10-8, 3-7 SAC) tried to mount a comeback in the fifth with a run but got no closer.

Ramsey Hale and Dawson Blue each had a two-run home run for Scotland; Marissa Smith had two doubles with three RBIs; Lindsay Locklear had a single and a double with two RBIs; Avery Stutts had a single and a double with an RBI; Addison Lewis had a hit with an RBI and Nateya Scott had a double.

“We had two girls hit home runs in the Live Like Madison game last year. And tonight we had two girls hit home runs again,” Romaine said. “So, I feel like Madison was looking down on us again tonight and touched the girls’ bats tonight and said, hey, I’m here with you.”

Stutts led the Lady Scots to victory in the circle, allowing three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in a complete outing.

Hoke County’s Alyssa Cascavilla had two hits with an RBI and was the losing pitcher after being relieved in the third. Alyssa Miller, the team’s ace, was injured recently and couldn’t play against Scotland.

“I hated their pitcher got hurt the other night because she actually has good velocity, too,” Romaine said. “And she kept us off balance early over there last year. But when you bring in someone that throws a little less velocity, it’s tough to hit against when you don’t practice against that. And she had us off balance there the first couple of innings, and then we made our adjustments and started hitting the ball.”

Scotland visits Pinecrest on Friday.

Lady Scots soccer eked past by South View

The Scotland Fighting Scots women’s soccer team lost 5-4 in a nonconference match against the South View Tigers in Hope Hills on Thursday.

Scotland (2-8-1) had three goals and an assist from Emma Clark and one goal and three assists from Joana Valencia-Flores. Goalkeeper Addison Anderson had 12 saves.

South View is now 6-6-1 with the victory.

Scotland hosts Union Pines on Friday.