North Adams junior catcher Paige Evans was the hero in the Lady Devils’w 5-4 win over Lynchburg on May 10 with a walk-off triple in the bottom of the seventh. Evans is hitting .515 for the spring. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
Lady Indians bounce back for tournament win over Eastern
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Last week was another good one for the North Adams Lady Devils softball squad as they captured wins in two out of three Southern Hills Athletic Conference contests. The North Adams girls knocked off Peebles 9-2, dropped a 13-12 slugfest to Fayetteville and then topped Lynchburg in walk-off fashion, 4-3.
Peebles and North Adams met in Seaman on May 6 and the home team was in control for most of the way. The Lady Devils scored three times in the bottom of the first to take a lead they would never relinquish. Two in the fourth, one in the fifth and three more in the sixth put the cap on a 9-2 victory.
For North Adams, Carlee Garrison went all seven in the center circle, giving Peebles just four hits and no earned runs to pick up the win. The offense was led by three runs batted in from catcher Paige Evans and two-hit efforts from Garrison and Marley Whalen.
The Lady Indians got a two-hit day from Amryn Carroll with the other base hits coming from Abigail Smalley and Kiera Scott. Kaelyn Musser pitched a complete game and probably deserved a better fate, going six innings and only allowing one earned run.
On Monday, May 12, the Lady Indians were in tournament action, facing a road game at Beaver Eastern. The Peebles girls pulled off an upset win over the #6 seed, winning 6-3 in eight innings. That win propels the Lady Indians into the Division VI district semifinals on May 21 at Unioto High School, where they will face the #3 seeded Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs.
On May 7, the Lady Devils lost a tough home conference battle to Fayetteville. North Adams jumped in front 5-1 after one inning but lost that lead and trailed 13-6 after five and a half frames. The Lady Devils’ rallied with two in the sixth and four in the seventh but fell one run short in a 13-12 defeat.
North Adams got two hits from Ahlyesa Taylor, Anna Armstrong and Marley Whalen but struggled on defense as eight of the Fayetteville runs were unearned.
Saturday morning saw the Lady Devils hosting the first place team in the SHAC big school division, the Lynvhburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, a team they had lost a tough 8-7 decision to earlier in the season. This time it was the North Adams team providing the excitement. After two Lynchburg runs in the top of the seventh tied the game at 4 apiece, the Lady Devils came to the plate with the opportunity for the walk-off win and they cashed in. Jerzi Tong led off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit to left and one out later, Paige Evans came to the plate and blasted a triple to right, scoring Tong to give her tam the 5-4 triumph.
That win improved North Adams to 8-12 on the season and weather permitting, they were slated to open Division V district quarterfinal play on Tuesday, May 13, traveling to face a familiar foe, the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, with the winner moving on to the district semis at Ohio University.
