Southampton girls improve record to 9-1

Published 1:49 pm Wednesday, April 13, 2011

COURTLAND—Southampton High School’s softball team improved its overall record to 9-1 and Southside District record to 5-1 after defeating visiting Nottoway 9-6 Tuesday.

Southampton pitcher Ashlee Buehner got out of a couple jams, limiting the Cougars to one run in the first six frames.

In the top of the second, Nottoway loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a bunt single. Buehner got a ground ball to freshmen Madison Cabell at third. Cabell made the force out at home.

Buehner followed with one of her two strikeouts on the afternoon and caught a pop-out to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the second, the Indians sent 12 ladies to the plate, cracked seven hits, put down two sacrifices, drew one walk and Nottoway committed one error. When the dust settled, the home team had sprinted out to a 7-0 lead.

Each team traded one-two-three innings in the third, and Nottoway went down in order in the fourth.

However, in the home half of the inning, Emily Nelson drew a leadoff walk and stole third. Megan Revelle, who went 3-for-4, sent a shot to right field that was snagged by the right fielder and kept Nelson at third.

Nelson didn’t have to wait much longer to come home; on the second pitch of her at-bat, Madison Cabell laced a base hit to the right center gap, plating Nelson.

In the top of the fifth, Nottoway brought another threat to the Indians’ doorstep. The leadoff hitter hit a sharp ground ball to Cabell at third; she did not field the ball cleanly, which allowed the runner to advance to second.

Following Buehner’s second strikeout, she allowed a base hit that put Nottoway on the board, and after two infield put-outs, the score stood 8-1 at the end of fifth inning. The top of the sixth was another one-two-three inning for

Buehner, and after Revelle hit an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the sixth, it seemed the Indians were on cruise control.

And perhaps they were as the Cougars jumped on four Southampton errors and three Buehner walks to score five times. Buehner bared down and got two ground balls to end the game.

The Lady Indians will travel to Greensville on Thursday, April 14, and to Franklin on Tuesday, April 19.