Southampton girls whip Franklin 13-0 in five innings
Published 10:06 am Friday, April 22, 2011
FRANKLIN—Southampton High School’s softball team knocked out 10 hits, stole seven bases, earned three bases on balls and took advantage of nine Franklin errors in blanking the home team 13-0 Tuesday at Armory Field.
Franklin’s Joanesha Hurdle throws a pitch against Southampton High School on Tuesday. Franklin lost 13-0. -- DON BRIDGERS | TIDEWATER NEWS
Both teams struggled out of the gate, neither having a base runner get past second base and neither scoring a run in the first two innings.
Southampton pitcher Candice Earls overcame a pair of first-inning singles from Franklin followed by strikeouts to end the early Franklin threat.
Earls lost the grip of one pitch that struck a Franklin batter, but she made quick work of the Broncos after that.
A double play erased a walk that started the fourth, and the Broncos went down in order again in the fifth.
All the while unable to get anything going on the offensive end of things, the Broncos were up to the challenge defensively at the beginning of the game.
In the first inning, the Indians had one lone base runner, Katie Ferguson, but she reached on a Franklin error and worked herself into scoring position, stealing both second and third.
A pair of infield line drives ended the Indian threat. The second inning was much of the same for the Lady Indians — a pair of singles netted them two base runners and a pair of stolen bases put runners on second and third with two outs.
In the third inning, Ferguson led off with a walk, and Emily Nelson’s sacrifice bunt attempt resulted in a Franklin error and runners on second and third.
Ashlee Buehner, playing second base, plated the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly, scoring Ferguson. Madison Cabell laced a line drive into right centerfield, bringing in Nelson from second, and on the throw, Cabell advanced to third.
A Marissa Cabell liner off the shortstop brought in the younger Cabell, and the Indians led 3-0 as a liner off the bat of Earls ended the inning.
In the fourth, six Lady Indians hit, including a double and triple to put them up 9 runs. Regina Artis and Carla Matthews scored twice in the inning, which was highlighted by Emily Nelson’s two-run triple.
A lone run in the top of the fifth ended the Southampton scoring for the day and Earls polished off the Broncos in order to end the game.