By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The two girls softball teams in the northern part of the county are on a roll. As this edition went to press, the Peebles Lady Indians have won seven straight and occupy first place in the small school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, but to their west the North Adams Lady Devils are even hotter. The Lady Devils were in the midst of a 10-game winning streak, giving them an overall 12-3 record and the current top spot in the big school division of the SHAC., unbeaten at 6-0.
On Thursday, April 16, Coach Paula Armstrong and her North Adams squad traveled to Eastern Brown to face the Lady Warriors, who stood second in the big school at the time. On a windy afternoon, the Lady Devils followed the same method that had led them to nine consecutive wins, big hitting and solid pitching. Seven different girls in the North Adams lineup got base hits (10 total) and senior pitcher Carlee Garrison tossed a complete game with 11 strikeouts as the Lady Devils moved three games up in the SHAC with an impressive 8-3 victory.
After a week that saw them win three conference games, including a thrilling 11-8 extra inning win at Fayetteville and a 5-2 win over Fairfield, Coach Armstrong commented, “It was a great win to end a very tough week! We aren’t done yet. We still have goals on our team board to reach. We told the girls this week, we can’t lose sight of doing the things that got us to this point. Every rep matters and needs to be quality. They all attack the ball well and can hit it hard. Our mental approach in the box is something we continue to work on and improve on every day.”
The Lady Devils struck first at Eastern, picking up a single run in the top of the first off of Lady Warriors starter Addison Arey. With one out, third baseman Paige Evans doubled to right and then came home when power-hitting catcher Chloe Armstrong tripled to right. In the top of the third, the visitors padded their lead with a four-spot, starting when Garrison reached when her fly ball was misplayed by the Eastern left fielder. A base hit by Evans brought Garrison home and a bullet to left center by Armstrong resulted in a two-bagger that scored Evans all the way from first. A fly ball off the bat of Marley Whalen was dropped by the Eastern right fielder, allowing Armstrong to score and making it 4-0. After a single to center by Riley Woods, the Lady Devils pulled off a double steal with Whalen coming home to give the guests a five-run advantage.
In the bottom of the third, the Lady Warriors got one of those runs back when Raylee Brummett laced a triple into the right field corner and came home on a ground out by Isabella Spires. Eastern cut the deficit to three in the bottom half of the fifth when Spires doubled to right and later scored on a squeeze bunt from Charlize Hauke.
Undaunted, the Lady Devils answered back with a pair of scores in the top half of the sixth. Melanie Wood led off with an infield followed by a walk to Lilly Parker. A single to center by Ahlyesa Taylor that loaded the bases. A base hit by Marnie Tolle brought Wood home with the inning’s first run and a ground out by Garrison drove home Parker to make it 7-2.
The final North Adams run of the game came in the top of the seventh when Armstrong singled and later scored on another Eastern error. In the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Warriors picked up a run on a run-scoring hit by Arey, but Garrison retired the final two batters to secure her team’s 12th win of the season by the 8-3 final.
The North Adams offense was again led by the freshman Armstrong, whose 3 for 4 day upped her average to .549 for the season. Paige Evans added a pair of hits and scored twice, while Garrison went seven for the “W” in the center circle.
The Lady Warriors managed six hits in the loss, getting two each from Arey and Madison Simpson. Arey was the hard luck loser from the rubber, only three of the right runs she allowed were of the earned variety.
The Lady Devils were back in action on Tuesday, a conference match up at winless Ripley, then will host Eastern Brown in a rematch hon Wednesday. North Adams will then face their biggest test of the season on Thursday when they will travel to Peebles to battle the aforementioned first place Lady Indians.
North Adams
104 002 1 —8
Eastern Brown
001 010 1 —3
N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Tolle 4-0-1-1, Garrison 4-1-1-1, Evans 4-2-2-1, Armstrong 4-2-3-2, Whalen 4-1-0-0, Woods 4-0-1-0, Wood 4-1-1-0, Parker 3-1-0-0, Taylor 3-0-1-0, Team 34-8-10-5.
Extra-Base Hits: Armstrong 2B, 3B; Evans 2B
E. Brown Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): M. Simpson 4-0-2-0, Hauck 4-0-0-0, Arey 3-0-2-1, E. Simpson 4-0-0-0, Tabor 4-0-0-0, Jimison 3-0-0-0, Brummett 3-1-1-0, Spires 3-1-1-1, Hauke 2-1-0-1, Team 30-3-6-3.
Extra-Base Hits: Spires 2B; Brummett 3B
N. Adams Pitching:
Garrison (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
E. Brown Pitching:
Arey (L) 7 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
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