BOILING SPRINGS, SC - As the Boiling Springs softball team enters a critical week for region play, they started their week extending their current winning streak to three games by defeating the Gray Collegiate Academy Eagles 3-2 on Monday night.
The Bulldogs victory over the Eagles gave them a little bit of redemption after a tough loss in Columbia to the same team earlier this season, which is something that Bulldogs head coach Hannah McDowell has said is part of the team's plans for the second half of the season. "We talked in our post-game huddle that a lot of our games we have lost by one including to this team last time and as a team we're over that feeling of being the team on the losing side of that," said McDowell. "We feel like we've put all the elements together now to feel like we should be the team on the winning side of games like that every single time." After shutting down the Eagles in the top of the first inning, the Bulldogs got the bats going in the bottom of the first inning as with one out as Morgan Hammett doubled to right field. She came around to score on the next batter when Bri Stanley hit a single to right field to score Hammett and put the Bulldogs up 1-0 over the Eagles. "I saw Morgan advance to third base on a steal after getting that double and knew if I went to the backside we could get a run," said Stanley. "So I put a single down to the right side giving us a run and putting us a runner at first to get some early momentum." Boiling Springs started the bottom of the second inning in a very similar way to the first inning as they kept their bats going. Emma Wilkins started the inning with a slap hit single down the third base line before coming around to score on the next at-bat when Bulldogs catcher Saydie Parris crushed a home run over the left field wall to put the Boiling Springs lead at 3-0 over the Eagles. Parris said that she came to the plate looking for a certain pitch and got that exact pitch. "It felt great when the ball left the bat," said Parris. "When I went to the plate I saw she was throwing a lot of changeups and I wanted to lay off those and wait for the screwball which is what I ended up seeing on the homerun, I wanted to make sure if I got that pitch though that I hit it hard and when I did, I made sure to get a good swing on it and it got out of here." McDowell said having Stanley and Parris separated in the lineup has done nothing but help them as it puts pressures on the opposing pitchers. "Having bats like Bri and Sayde spread out in the lineup has worked well for us," said McDowell. "It makes the pitchers have to face two powerful bats either in one inning or in back-to-back innings which makes it tough on the other team." In the top of the fourth inning, Grey Collegiate were able to get runners at first and second base but three great plays from the Bulldogs middle infield of Gracen Bennet and Chloe Osteen got the Bulldogs out of the inning. The top of the sixth inning saw the Eagles cut into the Bulldogs lead when M Stradinger hit a two-run homer to left field to narrow the Boiling Springs lead to 3-2. After giving up a run in the sixth, Bulldogs pitcher Bri Stanley was able to get three outs in the next inning that also included a great rundown by the Bulldogs infield that ended with Bennett making a great diving tag on an Eagles runner in between second and third bases. "I think Bri has gotten better every single time she's been faced with adversity this season," said McDowell. "She's able to bounce back quickly which we talk a lot about not having back-to-back mistakes. So if you give up a home run, don't walk the next batter and make things worse which I think has given her more confidence and given her team behind her more confidence." Emma Wilkins led the Bulldogs at the plate going two for three with run scored while Saydie Parris led the Bulldogs with two RBIs. Bri Stanley led the Bulldogs in the pitching circle as she pitched all seven innings while recording 10 strikeouts and only two runs on three hits. The Bulldogs will return to play on Wednesday when they travel to Dorman for a key region matchup against the Cavaliers with a game slated to begin at 7:30 PM. Comments are closed.
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