Lady Bulldogs win one of two Saturday

Published 6:30 pm Monday, April 3, 2023

The Hampton Lady Bulldogs earned a split on Saturday at home. The Lady Bulldogs would drop the first contest to Avery County 15-9 and rebound with a 5-4 win over Gatlinburg-Pittman. In the first game, Avery County would score 11 runs in the top of the first. Hampton would respond, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Ryleigh Nickles would get a single and score off Maleah Scalf’s double. Briley Davis would follow with a double, scoring Scalf to make it 11-2 after one. The Lady Bulldogs would hold Avery County scoreless in the second inning. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Anna Hatley would get a single and score off a triple by Abby Willis. Nickles would get her second hit, scoring Willis to close the gap to 11-4 after two. Avery would add a run in the third and three in the fourth to take a 15-4 lead going into the bottom of the fourth.  The Lady Bulldogs would not go down easy,  scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth to make the final score 15-9. Hatley would lead off with a walk. Back-to-back singles by Willis and Nickles would score Hatley. They would score when Scalf reached on an error. Scalf would score on a single by Abbie Lunsford. Hannah Smith would single to bring in Lunsford to close the gap to 15-9. Ryleigh Nickles would lead Hampton going 3-3 and Abby Willis would follow with a 2-3 effort.

After falling behind 2-0 to Gatlinburg-Pittman, the Lady Bulldogs would bounce back in the bottom of the second to tie the game 2-2. Briley Davis would lead off with a walk and score on a single by Olivia Sarrett. Hannah Smith would reach on an error scoring Sarrett to even the score to 2-2 after two. Both teams would be held scoreless in the third. Gatlinburg-Pittman would take the lead in the top of the fourth, 3-2. Mallory Lamb’s single and a double by Abby Willis would help the Lady Bulldogs score three runs to take a 5-3 lead after four. Hampton would hold on by holding Gatlinburg-Pittman to one run over the next three innings to take a 5-4 victory. Abby Willis and Rachel Fair would lead the Bulldogs with a double each and Mallory Lamb and Olivia Sarrett would contribute with a base hit each.