Pirates prepare for playoff rematch with Wakefield

RALEIGH — A year ago, a tightly contested softball game between Lumberton and Wakefield in the second round of the softball state playoffs resulted in the Wolverines winning on Lumberton’s home field to end the Pirates season.

With a rematch set for Tuesday in Raleigh, the Pirates hope to return the favor.

Wakefield hosts Lumberton in the third-round matchup at 5 p.m. Thursday. The game was scheduled for Tuesday, but postponed due to inclement weather, first two Wednesday and now to Thursday.

“The girls were talking about it a lot (Monday) at practice, wanting to get them back,” Lumberton coach Mackie Register said. “We didn’t play a good game last year, and a couple of plays here and there, it could’ve been a different outcome. I think we’re focused and we’re going to be ready to go.”

Lumberton (24-4), the No. 7 seed in the 4A East Regional, advanced to the third round for the first time in program history after beating No. 10 Cleveland 2-0 in the second round Saturday.

No. 2 Wakefield (23-2) won last year’s meeting 3-0 behind a shutout pitching performance by Dayna Bland, who also homered in the game. Bland remains the circle ace for the Wolverines, going 17-2 this season with a 1.21 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 121 innings.

“I think she’s going to be similar to the South View girl, (Jordynn) Parnell, and we beat South View twice,” Register said. “We’ve got to put the bat on the ball and put it in play, put some pressure on them first of all. We worked on some stuff today to try to shorten swings down a little bit and try to get back to the way we were hitting a few weeks ago. … I think if get to her early, that’ll be a big key. I think whoever scores first will kind of have the upper hand as far as with some confidence and stuff. It’s going to be a battle, going to be a low-scoring game I’m sure.”

Wakefield has a .371 team batting average this season, with six players with 20 RBIs or more, including Brooke Masingale (.487 average, nine home runs, 29 RBIs, 33 runs), Maddy Lampman (.382 average, four home runs, 27 RBIs, 22 runs), Lauren McDonald (.364 average, four home runs, 23 RBIs, 17 runs), Noa Grunow (.310 average, two home runs, 22 RBIs, 20 runs), Brianna Riehle (.413 average, four home runs, 21 RBIs, 34 runs) and Kensley Harrison (.426 average, five home runs, 20 RBIs, 31 runs).

“They’re like us. We’ve got four girls signed to play (in college) next year, and they’ve got some girls signed to play,” Register said. “You look at stats, and we’re really comparable to them in stats — but this time of year, you can throw those things out the window, you’re 0-0 now. … I think we’ve got a good game plan going in, we’ve just got to execute.”

Wakefield won the Northern Athletic Conference championship with a 10-0 league record. The Wolverines have won 11 straight games; this includes an 11-0 first-round win over East Chapel Hill and a 10-3 second-round victory over South View.

The Wolverines reached the fourth round after last year’s win over Lumberton. After the teams meet Thursday, one will reach the fourth round and will host the winner of No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 14 Corinth Holders.

Register says that the little things will go a long way towards determining which team will advance.

“When we get a chance to move runners over, we’ve got to execute and get people in scoring position,” Register said. “We’ve got to run the bases than we’ve done the last couple of games. We’re going to have to play a good game (Thursday), and if we do the little things right, they’ll add up to big things.”