Lady Panthers overcome Lady Vikings

The Lewis County Middle School Lady Panthers softball team travelled to Linden to take on the Perry County Lady Vikings on Monday, March 8th.

The Lady Panthers jumped on the Lady Vikings in the first inning when Taya Tiller and Kabry Adkins each singled in front of Makaela Dodson who delivered a two-run single. The Lady Panthers would plate one more in the inning when Addie Osborne drove in Dodson with a single. Addison Morgan started the game on the mound for the Lady Panthers and after getting the leadoff batter out issued 3 walks and gave up 3 singles that allowed the Lady Vikings to tie the game at 3 after 1. Claire Whitehead drew a leadoff walk and was subbed out by courtesy runner Stailee Moseley, who would later score on a 2-out double from Dodson that gave the Lady Panthers the lead back at 4-3. Morgan returned to the mound in the second and retired the Lady Vikings in order holding the 1-run lead. Kinlee Keltner led off the top of the third with a single and moved around and scored on a Gabii Ortiz single to extend the lead to 2 moving into the bottom of the third. The Lady Vikings got a leadoff single in the home half of the third and would plate two in the inning and tie the game at 5. Adkins led off the fourth with a single but was picked off before Dodson doubled to center. The Lady Panthers failed to move Dodson around and the score remained tied after 3 and a half. Brailey Carroll relieved Morgan and issued a leadoff walk, and the Lady Vikings would capitalize on a Lady Panther error to score one before Carroll struck out three straight and the Lady Vikings led 6-5 after 4 complete. The Lady Panthers would get one baserunner in the top of the 5th when Brailey Carroll was hit by a pitch but failed to score the equalizer and trailed by 1 moving into the bottom of the 5th. The Lady Vikings would string together a couple of hits with a walk and plate 2 more in the inning to extend their lead to 8-5. Adkins would draw a one-out walk before Dodson connected to send the ball deep to the fence and circled the basepaths to score on a two-run inside the park homerun, making the score 8-7 Perry County after 6 and a half. Carroll would strike out the side in order in the bottom of the sixth, and the Lady Panthers headed into their final 3 outs trailing by one. Ortiz would draw a leadoff walk before Claire Whitehead would stoke a triple to center to score a run and tie the game. With Moseley as the runner at third, Taya Tiller would drive in a run on a ground out and give the Lady Panthers a lead. Adkins again gave the Lady Panthers a baserunner with a single, and Dodson came up with another clutch hit, a run-scoring triple to left-center and score herself on an error. Clara Tanner would follow with a walk and later score on a error on an Addie Osborne hit. Before the Lady Vikings could end the inning, the Lady Panthers had taken a 12-8 lead. Carroll would issue a one-out single before striking out the final two outs of the game to secure the win.

Makaela Dodson went 5-5 on the day with 2 doubles, a triple, and a homerun, scored 3 runs and drove in 6. Kabry Adkins had 3 hits and scored 3 runs, Kinlee Keltner added 2 hits and a run, Taya Tiller 1 hit, 1 run, and 1 RBI, Clara Tanner a double and a run scored, Addie Osborne 1 hit and an RBI, Brailey Carroll one hit, Gabii Ortiz a hit, a run, and an RBI, and Claire Whitehead a triple and an RBI. Addison Morgan pitched 3 innings, gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. Brailey Carroll picked up the win in relief, pitching 4 innings, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.