Peebles’ Payton Davis had a memorable outing on April 13 as she and the Lady Indians blanked North Adams 10-0. Davis allowed no hits and struck out nine in getting the win. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Davis fires no-hitter in run rule win
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Coming into last Thursday afternoon’s softball match up at Peebles High School, you may have thought that the host Lady Indians were having one of their worst seasons ever, As they welcomed the North Adams Lady Devils, the Lady Indians held a season mark of just 1-10 but records can be deceiving. The Peebles squad has played a brutal and daunting schedule with only three of those first 11 contests being within the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. The Lady Devils came into the game at 3-2 and are much improved over last season and the two held their only meeting of the 2023 season on April 13.
Throw the records out the door for this one as it was all Lady Indians from the get go as Peebles pitcher Payton Davis tossed a gem, five innings of no-hit, no-run softball, allowing just two base runners, one on an error and one hit by a pitch. In the meantime, the Peebles offense gave their hurler plenty of support, enough for the home to team to post a 10-0 five inning run rule win.
After Davis retired North Adams in order in the top of the first, the Lady Indians took the lead in the bottom half. With two outs, a Caydence Carroll fly ball to deep left was misplayed and that opened the gates as Carroll came home on a Lily McFarland base hit and McFarland scored on a single to right by Darby Mills and the home team took the early 2-0 advantage.
The Lady Indians padded their lead in the bottom of the third when they sent 1- batters to the plate and scored six times. Carroll had an RBI single and McFarland drove in a pair with a two-base hit. Add in runs batted in for Mills, Kylie Schumacher and Aleah Purcell and the home team had extended their lead out to 8-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Carroll drew a one-out walk, stole second and came around on a base hit by Mills to make it 9-0 and with Davis continuing to blank the Lady Devils from the center circle, the Lady Indians wrapped it up in the bottom of the fifth. Abigail Smalley led off with a base hit and then came around to score the clinching run on another Purcell hit and the Peebles squad had their second win of the season and second in the SHAC.
With her no-no, Davis was the winning pitcher, going five innings and striking out nine Lady Devils. Carlee Garriosn started for North Adams and was tagged with the loss. Caydence Carroll, Lily McFarland, Darby Mills, Kylie Schumacher and Aleah Purcell all had two-hit efforts for the winners.
The Lady Indians will be in conference play on Thursday, April 20 when they host Ripley and will have a non-conference doubleheader with Paint Valley at home on Saturday, April 22.
The Lady Devils were back in action on April 17, dropping a 6-2 decision to Lynchburg in conference play and were slated to battle once-beaten Manchester on the road the following day. On Thursday, April 20 the North Adams girls will host West Union and on Saturday will travel to Huntington.
