Ladybirds live on, get past Eastern Alamance

STANHOPE — A base hit, a walk, an error, a base-running mistake or a mental blunder could have been the difference in Friday’s NCHSAA 3-A second-round playoff encounter between undefeated Southern Nash and Eastern Alamance, which won 3-A championships in 2019 and 2022, on the Southern Nash diamond.

But Southern Nash avoided such a dilemma in the anything-could-happen sixth inning and escaped with a 2-1 victory to advance into the third round for the first time since 2014.

Both teams lost in the second round last year, but the Ladybirds won in the second round for th first time in head coach Scott Collie’s eight-year tenure.

Southern Nash, the second seed among 32 East Region qualifiers, plays at home Tuesday in the third round against the Dixon-Currituck winner.

“The second round — we beat it, exclaimed winning Ladybirds pitcher Anna Dickinson, a junior right-hander. Coach Collie told us he had never coached a team here that played in the third round.”

“The game could have turned on one play,” Collie acknowledged. “This is a huge win for us. We obviously want more and to keep going.”

Southern Nash, the 2-A/3-A Big East Conference champion, emerged 22-0. Collie believes a Ladybirds team winning its first 22 games is unprecedented. He added the program record for wins is 23.

The Eagles, champions from the 3-A Mid-State Conference and the No. 15 seed, closed 15-9 with a lineup of four seniors, five sophomores and one junior.

“This was a good year for us,” said 13th-year Eastern Alamance head coach Danny Way. “At one point we were 3-5. But I just hate (Friday’s loss) for the seniors.”

Through five innings and a 15-minute delay after the third inning for a thunder shower, the Ladybirds owned a 2-0 cushion behind Dickinson’s mound performance. But Dickinson and company dealt with big trouble in the sixth.

Dickinson’s only  walk to open the top of the sixth came back to haunt her. The Eagles executed the sacrifice bunt and trimmed the deficit to 2-1 on senior center fielder Taylor Byrd’s RBI single.

Aided by a Ladybirds error and a stolen base by sophomore catcher Kaylee Manning, who reached on the error, Eastern Alamance stationed runners at second and third bases with one out.

Southern Nash clung to the lead when Eagles sophomore designated hitter Kinley Henderson was retired on a soft liner to first base for the second out. The Ladybirds dodged further trouble when junior shortstop Kaylie Love came up with a sparkling catch of an Eagles’ blooper into short left field.

“Awesome,” Dickinson said of the catch. “She had a good angle.”

Collie noted infielders are taught to turn and run on pop flies hit over their head.

“But she back-pedaled,” Collie noted, “and that threw her off a little bit. I was nervous until the ball dropped into her glove. But it was a great catch — a mighty big one at the time.”

Dickinson and her teammates made no big deal about limiting Eastern Alamance to one run in the inning and protecting their lead. But Way didn’t hide his frustration.

“The base-running error at third base hurt us,” Way expressed. “We couldn’t get a ground ball to the right side (to score the runner from third) and we couldn’t get the bunt down. And the Southern Nash shortstop made a good play.”

The momentum shifted and Dickinson retired the Eagles in order in the top of the seventh.

Thus, the mound duel of junior right handers Dickinson and Eastern Alamance’s Delani Strong stood.

In notching her 15th victory, Dickinson allowed but two hits, an earned run, one walk and struck out eight. Eastern Alamance’s Strong gave up six hits, one earned run and one walk while striking out seven.

“I did well,” Dickinson assessed. “I was hitting my spots and just relying on my team. I was working inside-outside and going with the screwball and curve. I mixed in the rise ball and change-up. (Strong) had a good change-up, too.”

“It’s her ability to locate and change speeds,” Collie said of Dickinson. “More than that, she is such a competitor.”

Collie also lauded Strong, noting: “She was definitely a really good pitcher. She kept us off balance with the change-up. We are much more patient as hitters, but we got a little anxious.”

“She threw a really good game,” commented Way of Strong. “She has been doing that the last five-six times out. They’ve got a really good pitcher.”

Mistakes were prominent in the scoring.

The Ladybirds grabbed a 1-0 lead when, with two outs, freshman catcher Aliyah Croll singled and, a couple of pitches later, circled the bases when the speedster stole second base and the Eagles catcher’s throw sailed into center field.

The decisive run came in the fourth. Freshman right fielder Noel Dobbins led off with a double into the left-centerfield gap. Junior third baseman Carlee Beckham executed the sacrifice bunt and Love laced a run-scoring single.

“Kaylie has been excellent defensively all year,” Collie commented, “and the last three or four games, she is swinging the bat better.”

The Ladybirds left the bases loaded in the fifth. But in the top half of the inning, they squelched an Eagles threat when right fielder Godwin fielded an errant throw and rifled a strike to third base to nab the base runner. That was the base-running mistake to which Way referred in recapping the sixth inning.

“When you don’t hit, have an error here and there and have a base-running mistake, you don’t win,” Way summarized. “But a lot of it that caused it all was their pitching. They just came out on top.”

Collie praised his veteran infield as well the defense’s success in handling Eastern Alamance bunts.

“We were really, really good defensively for the most part,” the Ladybirds head coach contended. “In a 2-1 game, you have to be. And if something goes against us, we try to move on quickly … just for the kids, so they are not focused on it.”

Dickinson saluted her teammates.

“They have scored runs and done well for me all year,” she said. “Our team chemistry is remarkable. We made a couple of errors, but I have trusted the defense all year.”

Continued Dickinson: “(Eastern Alamance) was a great team. We knew they were going to be great. They have won two state championships the last few years. They were making adjustments (upon Dickinson in the late innings).

“But we are still undefeated. We must be doing something right. We have done everything it takes to win.”

Score by innings:

Eastern Alamance  000 001 0 — 1

Southern Nash       010 100 x — 2

W=Anna Dickinson (15-0) 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO. L-Delani Strong 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO.

LEADING HITTERS — Eastern Alamance: Taylor Byrd 1-2, Becca Alston 1-2; Southern Nash:

Noel Dobbins 1-3, 2B, R; Kaylee Love 1-3, RBI; Aliyah Croll 1-3, R; Savannah Baines 1-3, Addison Brumfield 1-2, Anna Dickinson 1-2.

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