KF softball sweeps Lakeland
Published 3:37 pm Tuesday, April 28, 2009
For the second time in a week, King’s Fork defeated city rival Lakeland on the softball field. After an 8-3 win at King’s Fork, the second encounter at Lakeland was even more in KF’s favor as the Bulldogs beat up on three Lakeland pitchers in a 19-5 victory.
Seven of the nine Bulldogs in the starting lineup wound up with two or more hits as KF totaled 20 hits in all.
Spots two through five in the Bulldog order were especially dominant as Megan Blythe had four runs and four RBI in the second spot. Lindsey Holloman had three hits, reached base in five of six times at the plate and had four runs. Haley Johnson had five RBI, including three on a triple in the sixth inning which took KF’s lead to 16-5; and Niki Cuevas was 4 for 6 at the plate with four RBI.
A week earlier at King’s Fork, that game was tied until the Bulldogs scored five runs in the sixth inning to decide the game. For a couple innings on Monday, the Cavaliers (2-12, 2-10) again gave the Bulldogs (7-5, 7-4) a back and forth contest.
After a 5-5 score through two innings though, King’s Fork’s Miranda Whitley, who relieved starting pitcher Lindsey Holloman after the first inning, blanked the Cavaliers the rest of the way.
After an RBI double by Johnson scored Blythe to give KF the lead in the top of the first inning, Lakeland’s first three hitters reached base Alyssa Chirico walked, Shelby Pendleton singled with a bunt and Savannah Nuckols got a hit on a bunt and a KF throwing error allowed Chirico to score on the play.
Pendleton scored on a wild pitch and Nuckols came in on a two-out single by Megan Johnson giving Lakeland a 3-1 lead.
The slugfest picked up in the second. Five straight Bulldogs reached base against Lakeland starter Erika Wood, who lasted 1.1 innings.
Melanie Logwood scored on a bases-loaded walk to Blythe. Holloman, KF’s main power hitter in addition to their usual pitching ace, following by roping a ground-rule double over the fence in center field for two runs.
Now with Chelsea Speight relieving Wood, a sacrifice groundout by Johnson scored KF’s last run of the frame for a 5-3 KF lead. Speight pitched through the third inning, when Lakeland’s normal starter, Ashley Carroll came on to pitch. Carroll would only last 1.2 innings before Speight returned to the circle to get through the last 2.1 innings.
An RBI double by Nuckols, scoring Ginny Griffin, and an RBI single by Speight, scoring Nuckols, made it 5-5 through two innings. Nuckols finished 3 for 4 at the plate with two runs.
From there, Whitley held Lakeland to one hit and three total base runners over the last five innings. Meanwhile, the Bulldog bats couldn’t be stopped.
Going to the sixth inning, KF led 11-5. The Bulldogs put the result out of reach with a six-run rally in the sixth.
KF sent 12 runners to the plate in all. A two-run double by Blythe and Johnson’s bases-loaded triple were the big hits.
Holloman had two doubles while Johnson had two doubles and a triple. In addition to the middle of the King’s Fork batting order, Melanie Williams was 3 for 5 with two runs and Stephanie Livingston was 2 for 5 with four runs.