Olivia Hadnott went to the circle in the fifth inning looking to help keep D.H. Conley’s softball team in the game. Not only did she do that — with plenty of help from her teammates defensively — but she also later won it with her bat.
Hadnott’s two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning helped the Vikings beat South Central 3-2 Tuesday in a Big Carolina 3A/4A Conference softball game at Hollywood Crossroads.
“She’s a tough person,” D.H. Conley coach Wayne Deans said. “She doesn’t really show any emotion whatsoever, but she’s just a solid, standup-type player. She’s going to get the job done. It doesn’t matter what kind of pressure situation you put her in, she’s going to go out there and compete.”
Hadnott relieved Vikings starter Kendall Howard to start the fifth trailing 2-1. Hadnott yielded a leadoff single to South Central’s Maddie Zobre, then got three flyouts.
Ava Gaddis led off the fifth for Conley (9-3, 4-1 Big Carolina 3A/4A) with a double. Three batters later, Hadnott blasted a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence to put the Vikings ahead 3-2.
“Makes you sink a little bit,” South Central coach Cotton Nicholson said.
Hadnott said she was not trying to go deep, but was looking “to put something in play.”
“We had a runner in scoring position,” Hadnott said, referring to Gaddis. “Just to put something in play to drive her in.”
South Central (7-4, 5-1) got a runner on in the sixth but was held off the scoreboard. In the seventh, the Falcons’ first two batters went down, leaving Haven Roebuck, who had already tormented D.H. Conley.
Roebuck crushed an 0-1 pitch in the third inning over the fence to give South Central a 2-1 advantage. It was Roebuck’s fourth home run of the season. She entered the game batting .586 with 15 RBIs.
“We were just not going to give her anything good to hit,” Deans said. “We were going to try to keep everything away, away, away. But guess what? We were trying to do that earlier in the game, and, unfortunately, we didn’t get it away and the ball went over the fence.”
Roebuck was walked. Hadnott then induced an infield pop-up to end the game.
The loss was South Central’s third consecutive setback — all of them by one run.
“We haven’t really hit the ball very good all year long,” Nicholson said. “We’ve struggled in the batter’s box all year. We have trouble scoring runs. We lost three games in a row by one run. We should be able to score more than two runs.”
Roebuck was 1-for-3 with the home run. The other five hits for South Central by five different players were singles. In the third inning, following Roebuck’s shot, Ava Coward and Lacey Spivey put together consecutive singles, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Howard got a strikeout to get out of the jam.
Howard didn’t get the decision, but she gave up just four hits and two runs over four innings for the Vikings. She struck out eight and walked two.
Hadnott got the win, giving up two hits over three innings. She walked one and struck out one.
Hadnott was also 2-for-4 at the plate, with a third-inning double in addition to the game-winning home run. Gaddis was 1-for-3 and scored twice.
The win was D.H. Conley’s fourth in a row. Asked about the key to the Vikings’ recent surge, Hadnott answered quickly with one word: energy.
“Our energy the last four games has been completely different,” Hadnott said. “Our attitudes have been completely different. I think a lot of people have put the team over themselves now, which has relayed into our hitting.”
Deans pointed to his team being more loose.
“We had been tight in games where it has been close against good competition,” he said. “Don’t let fear dominate you. Embrace fear. Don’t let it scare you. Embrace it.”
South Central was scheduled to play its other city rival, J.H. Rose, on Wednesday. On Thursday, D.H. Conley is scheduled to host Northside-Jacksonville.
Ayden-Grifton 5, North Pitt 2
A-G broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the third, then tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the last two innings on Tuesday night in Eastern Plains Conference action.
Cheyenne Forbes swung a hot bat for the Chargers (7-5, 4-3), accounting for four of her team’s 10 hits including a double and an RBI, while Jo Nowell doubled and drove in two and Raelyn Jones added a pair of hits.
Kenlie Guthrie went the distance in the circle, striking out three and walking one.
North Pitt (7-7, 3-2) travels to A-G on Friday.
West Craven 7, Farmville Central 1
The Jaguars were cooled off on the road on Tuesday night after the host Eagles built a 4-0 lead after two innings and never looked back in an EPC clash.
FC (9-4, 4-3) managed just four total hits. Savannah Bland drove in the lone run with a double and Claire Neely notched two singles in the Jags’ second straight loss.
The teams played again in Farmville on Wednesday night.
John Paul II 3, Grace Christian 2
The Saints notched their fifth win of the campaign on Tuesday, battling out of 2-1 deficit with two key runs in the bottom of the third inning.
JPII (5-9, 1-1) did it with just four hits, and eighth grader Lorelei Grabill drove in two runs in the win. Tenley Weathington struck out five and limited the damage over seven innings in the circle.
John Paul II hosts Eastern Christian Home School on Thursday.
BASEBALL
J.H. Rose 14, Havelock 3
Rose bounced back in a big way from its initial loss of the season on Tuesday night, scoring 14 runs on 13 hits.
Leadoff man Owen Simmons ripped a pair of doubles and drove in four runs to power Rose (15-1, 6-0 Big Carolina Conference), Justin Grimes was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Gavin Liverman drove in two runs and Andrew Wallen was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Also for Rose, Parker Watson was 2-for-2 and drove in two, and Demarcus McCray drove in two.
The Rampants hosted South Central on Wednesday night.
Ayden-Grifton 13, North Pitt 7
The Chargers notched win No. 10 in a furious Eastern Plains Conference battle on Tuesday night.
Ayden-Grifton (10-5, 3-4) led 3-2 after the first inning, then the teams traded runs in the second before North Pitt (3-9, 0-5) surged again in the third and led 6-5. But it was all Chargers after that, as the visitors plated eight more runs in the next three frames to take the lead for good.
In the middle of the Chargers’ order, Camden Wilson was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Cole Vaughan was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. The winners also got doubles at the top of the order from Bailor Peebles, Connor Loftin (RBI) and Brysen Williams.
For North Pitt, Jonathan Strickland and Tylick Sherrod both doubled and drove in a run.
The teams meet again on Friday in Littlefield.
Greene Central 10 Washington 2
The Rams moved to 14-0 in another convincing win on Tuesday, outhitting the Pam Pack by a count of 13-4 and riding the arm of starter Austin Hardy, who struck out nine and walked four in seven innings.
At the plate, Greene Central (7-0 EPC) got a home run and four RBIs from Riley Radford, three RBIs from Jordan Scott and a triple, single and two RBIs from Braden Burress. Noah Uzzell, Easton Creech and Will Radford (RBI) added two hits each including a double apiece and Elijah Monroe added to hits and an RBI.
Greene Central travels to Washington on Friday.
John Paul II 11, Parrott Academy 1
The Saints were never tested in Tuesday’s rivalry installment, hammering the Patriots behind a combined no-hitter from sophomores JT Williams and Noah Sugg.
The duo combined for 13 strikeouts, including nine versus just one walk from Sugg over his 4.2 innings of work.
Three Saints batters — Sugg, Max Mason and James Donofrio — finished with identical 2-for-3 nights with doubles and RBIs all around.
JPII (11-5, 4-1) travel to Wayne Country Day on April 16.
Farmville Central 11, West Craven 1
The Jaguars are on a roll, jumping to 10-4 this season and claiming their fifth straight victory with a rout over the Eagles on Tuesday night in Vanceboro.
Farmville (10-4) now plays host to West Craven on Friday.
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
SOFTBALL
Hope 5, Farmville 0
Braelyn Johnson and Peyton James pitched a combined shutout out for the Mustangs in a shutout win on Tuesday night.
Leading the Mustangs offensively were Aurora Edwards with two hits and Johnson and James with one hit each.
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