Three Lady Ranger pitchers combine to throw a perfect game against Hampton
Published 1:34 am Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton centerfielder Makayla Maslin charges in to make a nice catch on a shallow hit ball.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Unaka's Noelle Collins gets a congratulatory pat on the back from first base coach Brittany Arnett after crushing a two-run home run in the Lady Rangers first game of the season against Hampton.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Unaka's Alana Parsons gets to home plate on her belly as Hampton pitcher Sara Orr attempts to get the ball to catcher Madison Setlock in time for the tag.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lady Ranger center fielder Lyndie Ramsey camps under a pop fly to end the inning for Unaka.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Unaka head coach Kenneth Chambers sends baserunner Alana Parsons to the plate to score an early run.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Unaka's Trinity Bowers fires a pitch to the plate. Bowers finished off a no-hitter for Unaka by fanning two Lady Bulldogs in her lone inning of work.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
STONEY CREEK – It’s been almost one year since any prep softball team has played a game, but the way the Unaka Lady Rangers opened up the 2021 season, one would have never had been able to tell it.
Three Lady Ranger pitchers combined work a perfect game against the visiting Hampton Lady Bulldogs while the Unaka offense made short work in the varsity game by taking a 12-0 win in only three and a half innings of softball.
Sadie Shoun pitched the first two innings for head coach Kenneth Chambers Unaka team striking out five and walking no one. Kailey Wilson followed and worked a perfect inning while Trinity Bowers closed out the game recording two strikeouts in her one inning of work.
Meanwhile, Unaka wasted little time getting on the board as the Lady Rangers scored three in the first, five in the second, and four in the third to force the mercy-rule ending.
Catcher Kendall Bare led the Lady Rangers seven-hit attack going 2-for-3 in the contest with four RBIs. First baseman Noelle Collins brought out the big lumber as she crushed a two-run homer that cleared the fence with ease.
Wilson also helped back the cause with a hit that plated two more Unaka runs.
Sadie Shoun, Alana Parsons, and Bowers also added one hit and one RBI each in the opening-day victory.
Hampton didn’t help their cause as the Lady Bulldogs committed six errors in the game while the Lady Rangers played error-free.
Sara Orr worked the complete game for head coach Chelsey Weddle’s Lady Bulldogs as Orr gave up seven hits, 12 runs – two of which were earned, recorded one strikeout, and walked four Lady Ranger batters.
The Lady Bulldog hurler tossed 91 pitches in the contest with 46 going for strikes.
Meanwhile, the three Lady Ranger pitchers tossed a combined 44 pitches with 34 finding the strike zone and striking out seven Hampton batters in the contest.
To get the perfect game, the Lady Rangers pitchers couldn’t walk a batter and they didn’t.
Unaka (1-0) was back in action on Tuesday as they hosted Sullivan North while Hampton (0-1) played host to Mitchell County, North Carolina on Tuesday as well.
