GOLDSBORO — The North Duplin Rebels defeated the Rosewood Eagles 8-3 on May 2 to win their third North Carolina High School Athletic Association Carolina 1A Conference Tournament Championship in a row.
Although the Rebels would go on to eventually win in dominate fashion, the victory was anything but easy as the Eagles came out firing on offense and scored in the very first inning of the game when, with one out, Rosewood sophomore Hayley Bedford hit an RBI single to give her team a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles were also able to prevent the Rebels from scoring early on as starting pitcher McCandless St John held North Duplin scoreless in the first two innings of the game. The Rebels did eventually get on the board though in the bottom of the third inning when, with two outs and two runners on base, sophomore Ady Spence hit an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
With North Duplin pitcher Lilly Fulghum and St John for Rosewood both pitching at a high level, the game remained tied at 1-1 until in the bottom of the fifth inning when the Rebels finally got on the scoreboard again.
Although the bottom of the fifth would prove to be one of the best offensive innings of the night for the Rebels, the offense got off to a rough start when junior Addy Higginbotham opened up the first at-bat for the Rebels with a groundout. Senior Reece Outlaw got the offense going though by reaching base with a double. Fulghum, who was up next for the Rebels, was then walked by the Eagles to set up a possible double play situation. The next batter for the Rebels, Ady Spence, did not allow that to happen though as she hit her second RBI single of the game to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead.
To make things worse for Rosewood, the next batter Marissa Bernal hit an RBI double to knock in Fulghum, who they chose to walk, as well as Hannah Gonzales to give her team a 4-1 lead.
Later in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runners on and just one out, Reece Outlaw all but put the game away when she crushed a three-run home run to give her team a 7-1 lead. With two outs, the Rebels then advanced their lead even further to 8-1 as Bernal hit an RBI single to score Fulghum.
In the top of the seventh inning with two outs, the Eagles put together their best offensive performance of the night and scored two late runs to make the score 8-3. The runs came too late though as Fulghum forced Rosewood batter St John to line out to end the game.
Fulghum, who finished as the game’s winning pitcher, finished with eight strikeouts earned and seven hits, four walks, three runs, and two earned runs allowed. Fulghum also earned her 10th win of the season in just 11 appearances with no losses.
Even with all of her success though, Fulghum remained humble and said the Rebels’ win was due to her teammates excellent fielding and hitting
“I saw my defense behind me. Of course, I didn’t get a hit, so they had to show up and hit, and they did the job. They stepped up and got (several hits) behind me. That’s what I love about my team,” Fulghum said.
The win was North Duplin’s 12th in a row, and along with winning both the conference championship and the conference tournament championship, they also finished the regular season with an incredible 14-1 overall record. With the loss, Rosewood finished the regular season with a 16-4 overall record.
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