LAURINBURG — Scotland’s softball team took advantage of four errors by Hoke in a 2-1 victory over the Lady Bucks on Friday night.
Raven Taylor went 2-for-3 at the plate and scored a run for Scotland. Taylor Waitley also scored a run for the Lady Scots.
“As a coaching staff, we were able to see the integrity of how good these girls can play in a tight game,” Scotland head coach Adam Romaine said.
Pitchers on both teams stood out. Kadence and Kinsley Sheppard dealt a combined seven strikeouts and yielded just three hits. Hoke’s Ina Womack kept the Lady Scots hitless until the fifth inning, and she finished with eight strikeouts.
Scotland didn’t seem to have an answer for Womack until Taylor reached first base with a leadoff bunt in the fifth inning. McKenzie Wilkerson executed a sacrifice bunt to move Taylor to second base. The Lady Bucks (7-3, 4-3 SAC) committed a fielding error at first base after Wilkerson was called out, and that mistake helped Taylor advance to third base.
Kadence Sheppard then laid down a bunt that resulted in another error by Hoke. Taylor scored from third base on the play, tying the score at 1-all.
Hoke’s Kamryn Russell had previously hit an RBI single to bring home the first run of the game in the first inning.
Womack was able to limit the damage to one run in the fifth inning, but the Lady Scots struck again in the next frame. Another error by the Lady Bucks allowed a run to score from third base. With a 2-1 lead, Scotland needed to find three outs in the top of the seventh in order to secure the victory.
Kinsley Sheppard, who took over for Kadence in the fourth inning, didn’t have much trouble getting those outs. Russell grounded out to third baseman Katie Smith for the first out, and Womack struck out looking in the next at-bat. Dayona Bandy then drew a two-out walk, but Kiya Locklear grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.
“We worked all day yesterday on baserunning and bunting the ball,” Romaine said. “I knew if we put the ball in play and made them make plays, they’d make mistakes like they did on Tuesday.”
Scotland (6-3, 3-3) also defeated Hoke 8-5 on Tuesday in Raeford. Kinsley Sheppard took a pitch to her wrist during her last at-bat Tuesday.
“She’s got a contusion and tissue swelling in her wrist,” Romaine said. “Didn’t play her at all at Whiteville (on Wednesday), didn’t practice at all yesterday… Kinsley did her job and closed the door.”
Scotland plays at Lee County at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Baseball team wins in walk-off fashion
Stewart Evans hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Scotland’s baseball team a 7-6 win over Hoke on Friday.
The homer marked the end of a successful outing for the sophomore. He finished 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Nick Callahan went 2-for-2 with three RBIs for Scotland (3-5, 3-3 SAC). Two of those RBIs resulted from a double that tied the game at 6-all in the sixth inning.
Scotland pitcher Tyler Barfield cruised through the top of the seventh inning, but Scotland couldn’t get the winning run home in the bottom of the frame despite a leadoff walk for Parker Byrd.
Barfield kept Hoke quiet in the top of the eighth inning, and that gave Evans the opportunity to win the game for his team.
Barfield picked up the win on the mound after striking out four batters and allowing one hit in three innings.
Hoke (5-4, 4-3) led by as much as 6-0 in the fourth inning.
