South Florence softball claims 2nd Place versus Hartsville
By Don Gearhart
In a battle for second place in the Region, South Florence and Hartsville entered the contest with identical 7-2 Region records. It would be the Lady Bruins striking first. A leadoff walk to Riley Owens proved detrimental when Katie Catoe doubled over the center fielder’s head for an RBI.
Hartsville answered back in the bottom of the third. Abbey Byrd laced a base hit between short and third and stole both second and third base ahead of a Jamarria Pendergrass RBI base hit.
The Lady Bruns struck back in the top of the third. Owens walked again and Catoe got aboard on an error. Pitcher, Payton Perry then drilled a homer to put the visitors ahead by a 4-1 count. The Lady Red Foxes would storm back in their half of the third. Myah Harvey chopped an infield hit to lead off. After stealing third, Harvey advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Jaysha McCullough. Trinity Davis was hit by a pitch, then stole second base to put two runners in scoring position. Avarie Easter drove home one run with a base hit and a second run scored on Byrd’s sacrifice fly to right. The tying run scored when Caydon Thompson tripled into the right field corner.
South would gain the lead back again in the fourth. Kameron Cotton doubled over the right fielder’s head and scored on a base hit from Blakely Blue. They struck again in the fifth as Ava Black got an infield hit, Catoe walked, and Perry drove home a run with a single. Her liner to right bounced in front of the fielder who then misplayed the ball allowing a second run to score. Things could have been worse for the Lady Red Foxes. A hard liner to center was snared on a charging Byrd who held the runner at third. The next batter hit a liner between short and second for what appeared to be a run-scoring hit, but Harvey made a diving catch to keep the run from scoring.
Hartsville closed the gap to 7-5 in their half of the fifth. Byrd stroked a double with two outs and came home when Thomspon hit a sharp base hit to left.
The sixth inning showed no scoring, but Hartsville looked to get something going. With one out, Carter Shumate hit a slow grounder to first an earned a hustling base hit when she beat the fielder to the bag. Harvey then hit a scorching line drive that was caught by the second baseman who doubled Shumate off first.
South Florence threated in the final inning when they loaded the bases on three walks. Flyouts to center and right kept the baserunners intact. Hartsville was only able to generate one baserunner in the bottom of the seventh and the Lady Bruins walked off the field as 7-5 winners.
Hartsville outhit the Lady Bruins nine to eight but couldn’t get the timely hits to extend the score. Harvey, Byrd, and Thompson each had two hits for the Lady Red Foxes. Catoe, Perry, and Cotton had two hits apiece for the Lady Bruins
Perry was the winner in the circle for South Florence while Allie Bailey took the loss for Hartsville.