West Bladen Holds On for the Victory

BLADENBORO – The West Bladen Lady Knights defeated the Clinton Darkhorses’ for a 7-5 victory in a SAC 6 clash on Tuesday. West Bladen’s lineup heated up in their half of the second inning with three runs scored enroute to their first win of the season. Senior Gracie Faircloth went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs to lead the Lady Knights in slugging. The Darkhorses’ struggled to get on base until sophomore Emory Johnson provided a lifeline in the sixth inning by batting in three runs.

West Bladen junior Marlene Crabtree started in the center circle for the host and she threw 6.5 innings to earn the win. Crabtree and the West Bladen defense made quick work of the visitors lineup to start the first inning with a series of flyouts. Clinton freshmen Alivia Capps started and finished in the center circle for the visitors.

Capps was able to get a couple outs in quick succession at the top of the Lady Knights lineup but Marlie Walters was able to turn one towards centerfield for a single.Capps shrugged off the hit and sat down Kallie Bass for the final out to conclude the first inning. Crabtree began the top of the second inning with a strike with little resistance from freshmen Laila Carter. Clinton junior Zannah Royal’s first at-bat of the game was short-lived as she popped out in the infield.

Crabtree was locked-in a long drawn out battle with freshmen Zoe Morrisey before she eventually walked her to give the visitors a baserunner. Clinton freshmen Peyton Tyler smoked a grounder straight to Crabtree before being thrown out at first to end their half of the second inning. The Lady Knights offense came alive in the bottom of the second with Crabtree getting a single to drop in shallow-right to leadoff.

Capps got help from her defense with a groundout but the visitors couldn’t stop the pending storm headed their way. Crabtree was able to steal second-base and she’d eventually find herself at third-base after the forceout at first. West Bladen sophomore Brenna Hester showed discipline at the plate to earn the walk and she would also steal second-base to put the host in poll position.

Junior Holland Davis stepped up to plate and she was able to bring home Crabtree with a single to make the game 1-0. Freshman Karlee Gause was able to load the bases with a slow roller towards the center-circle but Capps was indecisive in her decision to who she wanted to throw out. Faircloth blew the game wide-open with a two RBI-single to stretch the host lead to three before the conclusion of the second inning.

Clinton junior Brandi Sessoms led-off with a single but would be thrown out at second after Niah Torres slapped her hit towards the shortstop. Torres would find her way to second-base during Gracin Bass’ at-bat and Bass would eventually earn a base on a walk to put two runners on with one out. The pressure went up a notch after Crabtree walked the next batter she faced to load the bases.

West Bladen sacrificed a single to Johnson but they were able to alleviate some of the pressure with a forceout at home to keep the score at 3-0. Morrisey ended the visitors’ at-bat with a ground-out as the Darkhorse would leave runners stranded on base. Bass led-off the next at-bat for the Lady Knights and she earned a freebie with a walk. She’d eventually round the diamond and be brought home by sophomore Natalie Sykes with a sac-fly to make the game 4-0.

The Darkhorses’ started the top of the fourth inning with an infield pop-out but Carter smoked one to the right-field fence for a double. They failed to capitalize as the next two batters couldn’t create the spark needed to flip momentum in their favor. Luckily, the Clinton defense held firm to prevent the host from extending their lead with three quick outs. Morrisey stepped up to the plate once more but this time she was able to turn one to right-field to bring home the Darkhores’ first run of the evening to make the score 4-1 with two outs.

The Lady Knights kept momentum in their grasp with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and kept their victory in reach with two innings remaining. Crabtree finished her evening in the sixth with two strikeouts, while allowing eight hits and giving up five earned runs.Faircloth finished the game in center-circle and only allowed one hit for a brief appearance.

West Bladen began their SAC 6 schedule with a 1-0 start and they were slated to play against the Darkhoreses’ away from home on Wednesday but that game has been postponed due to weather. They’ll take on the Midway Lady Raiders after the Spring Break period on Tuesday, April 9th.