BOILING SPRINGS, SC - Almost a week after Chesnee and Boiling Springs battled to a 1-0 game last week, the Bulldogs won a slugfest over the Eagles 14-12 on Monday night to open up the home schedule for the Boiling Springs softball team.
"One thing I can say about our team is they don't give up," said Bulldogs head coach Randy Piazza. "This team has been down a few times this year but always finds ways to come back at the end. It's a fun bunch of kids to be around." Chesnee jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as both Skylar Barrett and Hannah Henderson both scored and were looking to add more runs until the Bulldogs Sarah Ezell caught a ball heading for right field before firing a throw home to catcher Saydie Parris, who put a tag on the Eagles runner for the second out before Bulldogs pitcher Hayden O'Neal struck out the final Chesnee batter of the inning. Boiling Springs cut the lead to 2-1 when the Bulldogs AD Raines started the bottom half of the inning with a double to left centerfield before coming around to score on a single to right field by Bri Stanley. The Eagles added two runs per inning in the second and third innings as they built a 6-1 lead over the Bulldogs as Barrett, Brandolin Bearfield, Kyleigh Thompson, and Jada Sellars all scored one run each for Chesnee over the two innings. Boiling Springs cut the Chesnee lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the third inning as their scoring started when Bri Stanley reached base on a single before Bri McAbee, who was running for Stanley, reached second base on a Chesnee error allowing Saydie Parris to reach base and put two runners on base. Leaha Rushing laid down a sacrifice bunt to move McAbee and Emma Wilkins, who was running for Parris, to second and third base with one out for the Bulldogs. Kate Philbeck followed Rushing, where she was hit by a pitch, before Gracen Bennett hit a double to left centerfield scoring both McAbee and Wilkins to cut the Eagles lead to 6-3 over the Bulldogs. With two outs, the Bulldogs Sarah Ezell hit a clutch single to rightfield scoring both Philbeck and Bennett to put Boiling Springs within one run. In the top of the fourth inning the Bulldogs Morgan Hammett made an amazing catch that was worthy of a spot on Sportscenter as she raced from right centerfield to left centerfield to make a diving catch for the first out of the inning. "Morgan made a play there that I think we can all agree was worthy of Sportscenter," said Piazza. "We had some kids make mistakes at times but always bounce back with big plays like Morgan did there and Sarah did with her great throw from right field before that. These kids believe in each other and even when things don't go their way they bounce back with great plays." While Hammett made a great play to start the inning, Chesnee was still able to add two more runs in the inning as Maddie Handy, Kyleigh Thompson, and Jada Sellars got three straight hits allowing Handy and Thompson to score and push the Eagles lead back to 8-5 over the Bulldogs. AD Raines led off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Bulldogs with a single to left field before advancing to third with one out on a Chesnee error that also allowed Parris to reach base. Raines made the Eagles lead 8-6 when she scored on a double to right centerfield by Leaha Rushing that also allowed Wilkins, pinch running for Parris, to advance to third base after previously stealing second base. Wilkins made the Eagles lead 8-7 on a Chesnee error before Rushing came around to score on an infield single by Bennett to tie the game at 8-8 between the two district schools. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Chesnee had their biggest offensive inning of the game as they scored four runs to reestablish their lead at 12-8 over the Bulldogs. Hannah Henderson started the inning with two outs with a single to left field before scoring on a Bulldogs error that allowed Maddie Handy to reach second base. Handy made the Eagles lead 10-8 on a double to left field by Kyleigh Thompson before Thompson scored on a single by Jada Sellars to make their lead 11-8 over the Bulldogs. Sellars made the score 12-8 in favor of the Eagles when she scored on a wild pitch by the Bulldogs. Both teams went scoreless in their next at-bats as Chesnee held a 12-8 lead over the Bulldogs heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Bulldogs held on to their best offensive performance of the game for their last at-bat. After two flyouts to start the bottom of the sixth inning, Boiling Springs got their inning going when senior second baseman Jacie Ross hit a single to leftfield before moving to third base on a double to rightfield by Sarah Ezell. Ross and Ezell cut the Chesnee lead to 12-10 when both scored on a double to rightfield by Morgan Hammett. Hammett was followed by Raines, who reached base on an interference call, then Hammet was able to cut the lead to 12-11 when she scored on an Eagles error that also allowed Stanley to reach base. Saydie Parris scored both Raines and Bri McAbee with a line drive down the leftfield line to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 13-12 over the Eagles. Emma Wilkins, who was running for Parris, made the Bulldogs lead 14-12 when she scored on a single to rightfield by Rushing. In the top of the seventh inning, Boiling Springs sealed the victory with a groundout to Jacie Ross followed by back-to-back strikeouts from Bri Stanley as the Bulldogs now head to region play with an impressive comeback with over Chesnee. "This win is great but our season truly starts tomorrow against Nation Ford," said Piazza. "We play in a really strong conference with Nation Ford, Clover, Fort Mill, and Gaffney which I told people is a stronger conference than a lot of people realize. In this region you don't have a night off and team for team it's a very competitive region." Boiling Springs will start region play on Tuesday night at 7:30 PM when they host Nation Ford before host Clover on Friday at home. Chesnee will return to action starting on Thursday as they compete in the three-day Byrnes Softball tournament at Middle Tyger River Park. Comments are closed.
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