The South Greene softball team made the most of its chances on offense and stepped up on defense when things got tight to take down West Greene 12-5 on Tuesday night.
“We got off to slow start, but we had a couple of big innings,” South Greene coach Amy Hawk said. “I feel like we did some good things and the girls stepped up when we needed them to. We had girls make good plays on defense to get us out of holes. I’m proud of how they played tonight.”
On offense the Lady Rebels used nine hits, five walks, three hit batters and took advantage of six errors to score their 12 runs on Tuesday. Paisley Brobeck had the big hit with a grand slam in the fourth inning. Kortnei Bailey and Hailey Williamson each had two hits and two RBIs.
Bailey earned the win on the rubber. In seven innings she struck out nine, walked seven and allowed eight hits. In addition to that the Lady Rebels left 12 West Greene runners stranded on the base path. They twice left the bases loaded and left nine runners in scoring position.
“West Greene has some good hitters, and they got on base. They would get bases loaded and Kortnei would strike someone out, or we’d make a big defensive play. I was really proud of how we worked out of a couple of binds,” Hawk said.
With the win South Greene improves to 6-0 and 3-0 in District 1-2A play. West Greene is now 2-6 and 1-3 against league opponents.
South Greene started the scoring in the top of the second inning by taking advantage of West Greene mistakes. Williamson and Nevaeh Davis reached base on a pair of balls that stayed in the dirt that the Lady Buffaloes mishandled.
Sadie Knowles hit into a third straight West Greene error which allowed the first South Greene run to score. Davis then scored on a groundout by Macy Roberts for an early 2-0 lead.
West Greene got one of those runs back in the third inning. Autumn Carter walked to lead off the side and then Aubree Everett sailed a fly ball deep into the right-field corner. Everett made it to third safely on the play, but Davis gunned her down at the plate trying to stretch the hit into an inside-the-park home run.
Abby Cluesman made it to third in the inning, but the Lady Rebels left her there.
South Greene added five runs in the fourth inning to create some breathing room.
A walk, a hit batter and a single loaded the bases for Brobeck. The senior blasted a grand slam over the fence in right field for a 6-1 advantage.
“I was really happy for Paisley. It was one of those hits that give you cold chills. That hit was really big after a slow start. It certainly made me feel a little bit better,” Hawk said.
The Lady Rebels were not done and added another unearned run in the inning. Williamson reached safely on a ball misplayed in the infield and Davis knocked her home on a line drive up the middle for a 7-1 lead.
West Greene closed the gap to 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and the infield playing up Cluesman hit into an error that allowed Chloe Puckett to score. Carter then scored on a passed ball before Bailey ended the inning with a pair of strikeouts.
The Lady Rebels made sure West Greene was not able to rally past them by plating five runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 12-3 lead.
Cluesman took the loss in the circle. In six innings she struck out four, walked five and allowed six hits.
Roberts led off the side with a line drive to center field and Whitney Reaves knocked in the first run by sending a shot into left field. Bailey followed with a two-run double, and Williamson scored Reaves and Bailey on a drive up the middle.
The Lady Buffaloes added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Bailey struck out the final two batters to end any hope West Greene had of a comeback.
At the plate Bailey finished the night 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Williamson was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and reached base five times. Brobeck had a grand slam.
For West Greene Carter was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Cluesman was 2-for-4, and Everett had a triple.
