Hall of Fame baseball player Ernie Banks once famously said "Lets play two" and that's exactly what it took for the Lady Bulldogs to capture the 5A District One championship on Wednesday night with a 9-5 victory over Mauldin after falling to the Mavericks 8-4 in game one.
"It was a great day to play two," said Bulldogs head coach Randy Piazza. "In the first game we got down early and just couldn't overcome the deficit. In the second game we came out a lot better and hit the ball well." After falling to the Mavericks in game one the Bulldogs didn't waste time getting on the board in the second game as they scored the first three batters in the game to claim a 3-1 lead at the end of the first inning. With the teams going to a game two the Bulldogs became the visiting team on their home field and got the opportunity to bat first in the second game. The second game started off with four straight singles by Boiling Springs hitters Ragan Bristol, Grace McKinney, Emily Hill, and Olivia Hall with Hall's single bringing home Bristol to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Natalie Hazzard followed Hall with a sacrifice fly to right field that brought home McKinney giving Boiling Springs a 2-0 lead. After Hazzard's sacrifice fly Abbie Threatt hit a single to centerfield to score Hill giving the Bulldogs an early 3-0 lead. In the bottom half of the first inning Mauldin's Tia Beckham reached base on a leadoff double and later scored on a single by Jillian Hewes to make the Boiling Springs lead 3-1 with one out. Bulldogs pitcher Olivia Hall was able to get the next two Maudlin batters to ground out and hit a fly ball to right field to preserve the Boiling Springs lead. While the Bulldogs held on to the 3-1 lead through five innings they added to that lead in the sixth inning as Boiling Springs batted around and scored six runs in the sixth inning. Emily Hill started the sixth inning off with a double and was followed by Olivia Hall with a single of her own. Hill came around to score on a single by Natalie Hazzard and Hall scored on a single by Abbie Threatt to make the Boiling Springs lead 5-1 with no outs in the sixth inning. Zoey Stewart reached base on a Mauldin error which also allowed Hazzard to score making the Boiling Springs lead 6-1. Threatt put the Bulldogs lead at 7-1 after a third strike wild pitch allowed her to score and allowed the batter Hailey Owens to reach base. The Bulldogs scoring would come to an end with the same person it started with as Emily Hill who was batting for the second time in the inning hit a double to left field scoring both Stewart and Owens to give the Bulldogs a 9-1 lead with only six outs left to get. In the bottom of the sixth inning Mauldin was able to add a run when Jillian Hewes singled and came around to score on a groundout by Taylor Williams to put the Boiling Springs lead at 9-2 at the end of the sixth inning. The Mavericks were able to make a rally in the bottom of the seventh inning by scoring three runs but it wasn't enough as the Bulldogs captured a 9-5 victory and advanced to the Upper State championship round of the playoffs. After entering the playoffs as a four seed the Bulldogs overcame heavy odds to get to the Upper State championship round, "It is an impressive performance by this team to get here with as young as we are," said Coach Piazza. "This team has seemed to find its way." With the victory the Bulldogs will be hosting a familiar foe as Region III-5A rival Byrnes will travel to Boiling Springs on Saturday for the first round of the Upper State championship. The first pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Comments are closed.
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