By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After dropping their first five decisions of the 2026 spring campaign, all by lopsided scores, the West Union Lady Dragons finally got one on the winning side of the ledger as they picked up a come-from-behind 17-12 win at Ripley in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action on April 15. Unfortunately for the Lady Dragons, they lost two games the next two days to Eastern Pike and Whiteoak to stand at 1-7 as this edition goes to press.
At Ripley, things again looked quite gloomy for the West Union squad as they gave up six runs in the first inning to the Lady Jays and fell behind 10-3 after three innings, but with reliever Lauren Ellis shutting down the Ripley offense, the Lady Dragons mounted an impressive comeback.
With two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and then five in the sixth, the Lady Dragons took an 11-10 advantage only to see Ripley answer with two in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead. With one more opportunity, West Union made the best of it, exploding for six runs in the top of the seventh, then blanking the Lady Jays in the bottom half to secure the elusive first win by the final five-run margin.
The Lady Dragons banged out 14 hits in the win and were aided by eight Ripley fielding errors. West Union got three-hit efforts from Lylah Adams, Harlee Hayslip (all for extra bases) and Piper Stapleton, with Adams scoring three times and driving in three. Addison Mashurn went 2 for 6 with a double. and drove in three runs. In the center circle, sophomore Lauren Ellis went five innings in relief to get the win, allowing just two runs, one earned. Only five of the Ripley runs were earned as the Lady Dragons also struggled in the field, also committing eight errors.
The biggest bat of the day came from Ripley senior Brooklyn Manning, who went 4 for 5 with three doubles, while teammate Abbi Taylor adding a double and a first inning home run. Senior Callie Fultz also collected for hits, including a pair of doubles) for the Lady Jays, who fell to 0-8 on the season.
On Monday, April 20, the Lady Dragons matched up again with Ripley, this time on the West Union home field. On Tuesday, they were on the road to face a solid Eastern Brown squad and continued a busy week with a home conference game with Lynchburg on Thursday, April 23.
West Union
201 215 6 —17
Ripley
504 002 0 —12
W. Union Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Adams 5-3-3-3, Bushelman 3-2-0-0, Garrison 2-4-2-0, Hayslip 5-3-3-2, Liddell 0-1-0-0, Mashburn 6-1-2-3, Rothwell 2-1-0-1, E. Stapleton 6-0-1-2, P. Stapleton 5-1-3-2, White 4-1-0-0, Team 38-17-14-13.
Extra-Base Hits: Hayslip 2B (2), 3B; Mashburn 2B; P. Stapleton 2B
Ripley Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Brock 4-1-1-0, Fulton 5-1-2-0, Fultz 5-2-4-2, Himes 5-1-2-0, Inlow 4-1-0-0, Manning 5-2-4-1, Powell 2-0-0-0, Short 4-2-1-0, Taylor 4-2-2-2, Whisman 2-0-0-0, Team 40-12-15-5.
Extra-Base Hits: Fultz 2B (2); Manning 2B (3); Taylor 2B, HR
W. Union Pitching:
Mashburn 2 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Ellis (W) 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Ripley Pitching:
Short 6 IP, 10 H, 12 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 9 K
Taylor (L) 1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 3 BB
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