By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Monday afternoon marked the beginning of the 2025 high school softball season and the only county team to see action was the North Adams Lady Devils. The Lady Devils, coached by Paula Armstrong, were on the road for their season opener, traveling to McDermott to face off with the Northwest Lady Mohawks. The North Adams squad trailed just 3-1 going into the bottom of the fourth but the Lady Mohawks exploded for five runs there and three more in their half of the fifth to wrap up an 11-1 run-rule win.

Northwest got to Lady Devils’ starter Carlee Garrison for a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and added another in the bottom of the third before the visitors plated their only run in the top half of the fourth. The North Adams run came with two outs when Karis Tumbleson singled home Paige Evans to make it 3-1.

Northwest then scored their five in the bottom of the fourth, then added three more in the fifth off of North Adams reliever Jerzi Tong to wrap up the victory.

The Lady Devils managed five hits in the loss, two from Evans and one each from Tumbleson, Marley Whalen and Lilly Parker.

With renovations taking place at the North Adams softball field, the Lady Devils faced a busy opening week on the road. On Tuesday, they traveled to Huntington, followed by a Wednesday trip to Batavia. Friday brings a trip to Portsmouth West with the hopes of having a home opener on Monday, March 31 with Piketon.

North Adams

000 10 —1

Northwest

201 53— 11

N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Tong 2-0-0-0, Garrison 3-0-0-0, Woods 2-0-0-0, Evans 2-1-2-0, Whalen 2-0-1-0, Tumbleson 2-0-1-1, Parker 2-0-1-0, Armstrong 2-0-0-0, Taylor 1-0-0-0, Wood 2-0-0-0, Team 20-1-5-1.

Northwest Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Throckmorton 3-2-2-3, Journey 3-1-1-1, Carpenter 3-0-0-1, Runyon 2-2-1-1, Bostwick 3-0-2-1, South 3-1-1-0, Copp 1-2-0-0, Puckett 3-2-1-1, Sanford 3-1-0-2, Team 24-11-8-10,

Extra-Base Hits: Puckett 2B, Throckmorton 2B, HR, Runyon HR

N. Adams Pitching:

Garrison (L) 4 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Tong 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB

Northwest Pitching:

Carpenter (W) 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 K