Lady Warrior bats hit on all cylinders in a 19-1 win over Hampton
Published 8:18 am Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Happy Valley's Macy Puckett tags first as Hampton's Reagan Baker is safe at first.
Hampton's Bailey Adrews pitches against Happy Valley.
Happy Valley's Claire Johnson slides home safe past Hampton catcher Maddie Setlock.
Happy Valley's Maddie Osborne gets back to first as Hampton's Katie Grindstaff misses the throw.
Hampton's Sophie Cable fields a throw at second base.
Star Photo/Earl Neikirk Happy Valley's Claire Johnson looks to throw to first.
BY AUSTIN ALEXANDER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
JOHNSON CITY— Metro Kiwanis Park played host to Hampton and Happy Valley Monday night, two teams desperately looking for a win to propel them into some late-season momentum. Hoping to leave the thoughts of the regular season for the fresh start of postseason play, both teams could use the win.
Happy Valley played faux hosts in a matchup that saw the Lady Warriors hitting early and often with little to no reply from the Lady Bulldogs.
Following a massive first three innings, the game was ended following the top of the fourth inning when the 10-run mercy rule was issued and the game finished 19-1.
The game started with Lady Warriors’ pitcher Abby Holt striking out the Lady Bulldogs’ Reagan Baker. The no-hitter was quite short-lived, however, as Sophie Cable got the ball rolling for Hampton with a single to center.
Following a wild pitch, Maddie Setlock drove in what would be the lone run of the game for the Lady Bulldogs.
The top half of the inning ended when Destini Miller was struck out looking with runners on first and second.
The Lady Bulldogs’ Bailey Andrews started on the mound and got a quick pop-fly out when Lady Warriors’ Laura Rice shot one into left.
Cierra Southerland got the bats going for the Warriors with a groundball into right. What followed her was a series of fortunate events and key hitting from Happy Valley as the next seven batters would reach base with highlights coming from Madisun Puckett who ripped a line drive into right scoring two runs.
Puckett’s hit was followed by a triple from Claire Johnson which brought in another two runs.
The inning would eventually end with a Lady Warrior 7-1 advantage.
The second inning would be less kind to the Lady Bulldogs as they went three up and three down and Holt would finish her pitching duties allowing only two hits and one earned run.
The bats got even hotter for the Warriors as three of the first four batters reached base including one run scored.
Claire Johnson then stepped up to the plate and managed to best her triple with her first home run of the season—a three-run shot.
After three more hits and a walk, Kadie Havner stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and smashed a groundball into right clearing the bases and adding three more to the scoreboard.
Following the end of the second, Teagan Ray took over on the mound for the Lady Warriors and she earned the final six outs of the game for Happy Valley allowing only one hit.
Happy Valley added two more runs in the third to make the score 19 to 1, which is how the game would eventually end.
The game helped the Lady Warriors pick up some much-needed momentum as the postseason is just around the corner for teams in the district.
As for the Lady Bulldogs, they’ll hope they can find that momentum in their next game against Johnson County.
