PM Girls Snare First Two Softball Wins
The Parry McCluer High School softball team earned its first two wins of the season last week, rallying to defeat Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy 10-8 last Tuesday in Buena Vista before cruising to an 18-2 road win in the Pioneer District opener at Narrows on Thursday.
The Fighting Blues (2-4) ended the week with an 11-1 loss in five innings at Rockbridge County. (See separate story.)
Against SMLCA (1-1), the Blues showed resilience by coming back from a 5-0 deficit to take the win, following an 0-3 start to the season.
The Ospreys jumped on the Blues in the first inning, sparked by a two-run triple by Paige Nichols and a tworun homer by Abby Hogan. Jules Maddox then scored on a groundout to give SMLCA a 5-0 lead.
The Blues answered in the bottom of the first when Kendall Painter hit an inside- the-park home run to right field, driving in Patience Hill and Olivia Julian to cut the Ospreys’ lead to 5-3.
SMLCA scored two runs in the second, on hits by Nichols and Hogan, to extend its lead to 7-3. The Ospreys added another run in the third when Chelsea Kerr scored on a groundout. In the bottom of the third, PM cut the lead to 8-4 when Painter ran home on a wild pitch.
The Blues had their big inning in the fifth, erupting for six runs. After PM loaded the bases, Alysa Wheeler doubled to center field to drive in Painter and Olivia Julian. Natalie Mohler then singled to center field to bring home Julian. Wheeler and Mohler both scored when Logan Vest singled to right field, giving PM a 9-8 lead. The Blues scored the final run of the game when Hill doubled to center field, driving in Vest.
In the final two innings, the Blues allowed just one hit.
Pleased with his team’s effort after a rough start, PM head coach Troy Clark said, “Giving up five [runs] in the top of the first, we could’ve folded up. They played hard. They kept fighting. We got some hits when we needed them. I’m just proud of them for finishing.”
Painter led PM with three hits – the home run, a triple and a single – while Julian and Sophie Chittum each had two hits. Nichols and Kerr paced SMLCA with two hits each.
On the mound for the Blues, Julian pitched a complete game, striking out seven while allowing nine hits, four walks and eight runs. “She pitched well,” said Clark of Julian. “She had a couple innings where I was worried about her getting tired, but she fought through it, and she finished well.”
Pitching a complete game for the Ospreys was Claire Hayden, striking out four while surrendering 12 hits, three walks and 10 runs.
PM 18, Narrows 2
The Blues started Pioneer District action with an 18-2 road win over Narrows on Thursday.
Clark said Narrows (0-4 overall, 0-1 district) has a solid pitcher, but the Blues were successful against her.
“We did what we needed to do,” said Clark. “We hit the ball. We actually didn’t make any errors. We played well defensively. We need to get that more consistently.”
The Blues were scheduled to play at Eastern Montgomery yesterday and will continue district action at home against Craig County on Thursday at 5 p.m.
