This rip by North Adams catcher Paige Evans resulted in two RBI’s for the Lady Devils in their loss to Western Latham on April 11. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
From the left side of the plate, North Adam’s Anna Armstrong slaps a base hit to the left side of the infield in action from the Lady Devils’ non-conference battle on April 11 with Western Latham. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After a season opening victory, the North Adams Lady Devils softball squad was still looking to break back into the win column as they hosted the Western Lady Indians on Friday, April 11, the first home game of the season for the North Adams girls after seven on the road to open the spring. Construction on new dugouts kept the Lady Devils boarding the bus but they managed to get on the home field on a very chilly and blustery Friday afternoon.
The Friday affair with Western was a non-conference contest and saw the Lady Devils grab and early lead that they let slip away as the Lady Indians used a five-run fourth inning to come from behind and eke out a 7-6 road win.
After North Adams starter Jerzi Tong worked out of a jam in the top of the first, the Lady Devils scored once in the bottom half to take an early lead. Tong led off with a base on balls and her courtesy runner, Lilly Parker, later sprinted home on a wild pitch.
After a scoreless second for both sides and a zero in the top of the third for Western, the Lady Devils added two more in the bottom of the third. A sharp base hit to right by catcher Paige Evans drove home Parker and Carlee Garrison to give the home team what turned out to be a short-lived 3-0 advantage.
Short-lived because the Lady Indians’ offense awoke in the top of the fourth to score five times, taking advantage of some Tong control problems and some North Adams defensive miscues. In their next at-bat, the Western bats added two more runs to their lead, both coming home on a base hit by Bailey Ison and the visitors led 7-2 headed to the bottom of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Devils began to claw their way back, picking up two runs when Tong walked and Parker was again inserted as the courtesy runner. Garrison was the next hitter and she launched a drive to center field that went for an inside-the-park home run that drew the home team within 7-5. In the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Devils were still down two and after the first two hitters were retired a double by Evans followed by an RBI single from Johnie Edwards made it a one-run game. The potential tying run came to the plate in third baseman Marley Whalen, but she was caught looking at a third strike for the game’s final out.
In the loss that dropped them to 1-7 on the spring, the Lady Devils pounded out 11 hits, three of those from Paige Evans, who raised her season average to .667.
The Lady Devils were scheduled to be back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action on Monday, hosting Eastern Brown, but the sudden pop-up afternoon storms, didn’t let that happen. On Tuesday, North Adams was slated to host Ripley in conference action, followed up by a non-conference home game on Wednesday with Portsmouth Clay.
Western Latham
000 520 0 —7
North Adams
102 020 1 —6
W. Latham Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Penwell 4-1-0-1, Ryan 4-1-1-0, Whitley 3-2-2-1, Ison 4-0-2-2, Smith 3-0-0-1, Stone 4-0-2-1, Seaman 4-1-1-0, Glass 3-1-0-0, Bolden 3-1-0-0, Team 32-7-8-6.
N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Tong 2-0-1-0, Garrison 4-2-2-2, Evans 4-1-3-2, Tumbleson 2-0-0-0, Edwards 2-0-1-1, Whalen 3-0-2-0, Woods 3-0-1-0, Armstrong 3-0-1-0, Taylor 3-0-0-0, Wood 3-0-0-0, Team 29-6-11-5.
Extra-Base Hits: Evans 2B, Whalen 2B, Garrison HR
W. Latham Pitching:
Whitley (W)- 7 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
N. Adams Pitching:
Tong (L)- 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Garrison- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 K
