PM Softball Goes 1-2

Blues Beat Rocktown, Fall To District Foes

The Parry McCluer High School softball team picked up a much-needed victory last Monday afternoon, but the Fighting Blues are still in search of an elusive second Pioneer District win.

The Blues completed the season sweep of Rocktown with a resounding 20-3 victory in five innings on Monday of last week in Harrisonburg, but two more Pioneer District setbacks followed. PM dropped a 15-5 decision in five innings to Narrows last Tuesday in Buena Vista, and a late comeback attempt fell short in an 11-8 loss at Bath County on Thursday.

After the long week, the Blues sport a 3-5 overall record and stand 1-4 in league play.

PM, which had beaten Rocktown 25-2 in the season opener on Match 25, picked up another victory over the Raptors by pounding out 10 hits and taking advantage of 11 walks on Monday of last week. Seven members of PM’s starting nine had hits in the game for the Blues, who broke open a close game early with huge rallies in both the third and fourth innings.

PM tallied three runs in the first, thanks in part to an RBI single from Kendall Painter and a run-scoring groundout by Patience Hill, but Rocktown responded in the home half of the first with a pair of runs. That’s the way the score remained until the Blues blew it open in the third.

Painter led off the inning by reaching on an error, and she raced home on Hill’s RBI single. Sarah Dudley plated a run with a sacrifice fly. By the time Zoey Tolley drove home a run with a base hit, Parry McCluer’s lead grew to 9-2.

In the fourth, the Blues batted around again, scoring 10 times to put the game away. Harleigh Fulwider drove in a pair of runs during the outburst, and she scored on Jordyn Hostetter’s RBI single. Tolley plated two more runs with her base hit, and Sophie Chittum drove home two more with two outs in the frame.

Tolley went 2-for-3 at the plate for PM, scoring twice and picking up three RBIs. Painter had two hits in four at bats, with three runs scored and two batted in, while Fulwider was a perfect 2-for-2 with four RBIs.

Caroline Watts picked up the win on the mound for the Blues, going the full five innings while surrendering just one earned run on four hits while striking out five and allowing four walks.

Narrows 15, PM 5

While the Green Wave belted nine hits in Tuesday’s contest, the defense let down the Blues. Parry McCluer was plagued by nine errors in the game. Only four of Narrows’ 15 runs were earned.

Chittum gave the Blues an early 1-0 lead when she singled and moved to second on Sophia Bouchelle’s sacrifice bunt. Chittum scored when the throw from another bunt, off the bat of Sarah Dudley, was dropped at first base.

The lead was short-lived, however. Narrows (6-4 overall, 5-1 district) scored three times in the third and never trailed again.

The Blues did keep it close for a while, but Narrows pulled away in the fourth, using six PM errors to plate seven runs. The Green Wave scored five more times in the fifth to extend the advantage to 15-2.

PM scored three times in the home half of the fifth as Chittum and Dudley both drove in runs. But the comeback effort ended with the bases loaded.

Chittum had two of PM’s four hits in the contest. Hill and Bouchelle accounted for the other two.

BC 11, PM 8

PM gave up five runs in the first inning Thursday in Hot Springs, and the Blues never recovered, with a late rally falling just short.

The Blues trailed 8-1 after four innings, but they did not go quietly. In the fifth, Watts singled with the bases loaded to drive in two runs, and Tolley followed with a single of her own to plate another. Hill chased Tolley home with her RBI single, and PM cut the Charger lead to 8-6.

Unfortunately for the Blues, two critical errors allowed the Chargers (4-7, 2-4) to score three insurance runs in the home half of the sixth inning. That was enough of a cushion that PM’s two runs in the top of the seventh were not enough to complete the comeback.

Watts finished the game with three of PM’s 11 hits, driving in three runs. Tolley, Hill and Chittum also recorded RBIs for the Blues.

PM stepped out of the Pioneer District earlier this week, playing host to Liberty (Bedford) on Monday and Rockbridge County yesterday. The Blues will return to league play Thursday when they travel to Eastern Montgomery. PM will play host to nondistrict rival Patrick Henry on Monday before visiting district rival Highland County on Tuesday. All three games are scheduled for 5 p.m.