Lady Pirates split games
Swansboro pitcher Nicole Newman fires a pitch to the plate.
Tideland News Report
Swansboro trailed 5-1 and 8-4, but a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh fell just short.
“I was proud of the girls, they could have folded early but they didn’t,” said Swansboro head coach Kim Miller-Morton.
Megan Ketner had a monster game for the Swansboro girls and sparked their three-run third inning rally with a three-run homer. For the game the hard-hitting freshman was 2-4 with three RBIs and scored a pair of runs.
“Megan came out of her slump this week,” said the coach. “She’s been a real good contact hitter all season, but this week she really found her momentum.”
After trimming the
Five Swansboro errors in the top of the fifth allowed the Dark Horsed to plate three unearned runs.
“We have to start playing with more confidence defensively,” explained Miller-Morton. “And offensively we have to start getting more timely hitting, and not string them out.”
The Lady Pirates fall to 4-9 overall and 2-6 overall.
Southwest
The Swansboro girls scored in both the first and sedond innings, but blew the game open with a seven-run explosion in the third.
Destini Brown had a big day for the Pirates offensively, going 2-5 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored.
“I was very pleased with the fact that we were patient at the plate and selective of the pitches we went after,” said the coach. “The girls are beginning to understand what’s a good pitch to go after.”
The coach was also pleased with her team’s defensive effort.
“I thought we played pretty solid defensively. The girls worked well together and supported each other.”
The Pirates committed only two errors in the contest.
Devils fork Croatan girls
Tideland News Report
The
The Devils led 3-0 after six innings, and the Cougars couldn’t generate a rally in the final inning.
The Cougars were on a tear earlier in the season, but have hit the skids lately.
Croatan’s record stood at 7-2 overall on March 24 after a 2-0 victory over South Central in the D.H. Conley Easter Tournament. The victory was the lady Cougars’ fourth straight win, but since then, they have dropped three of the last four to fall to 8-5 overall.
The Croatan girls fall to 4-1 in the ECC, while the frontrunning Lady Blue Devils improve to 5-0 in conference, 6-2 overall.
Leading hitters for Croatan were Lauren
Cougar booters topped
Tideland News Report
The setback drops the Lady Cougars to 4-5-1 overall and 2-4-1 in conference action.
The Cougars opened the game’s scoring at 15:14 when Julie Robbins scored after a corner kick from Stephanie Ammons.
But the tally would prove to be the last of the match for the Croatan girls.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game and that one goal wasn’t going to win it,” said Croatan head coach Paul Slater. “We got complacent in the second half and Southwest was able to take over.”
The Stallions picked up their intensity in the final 40 minutes, and scored the equalizer at 58:33.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net during the remainder of regulation play, and the match was forced into a pair of 10-minute overtime sessions.
Neither team was able to dent the onion bag in the first extra session, but at 91:47 the Stallions were finally able to break the deadlock.
Slater was proud of his team’s effort, in particular the play of sophomore goalie Leilani Guata, who recorded nine saves.
“Our goal is to improve every match, and we’re doing so,” he said. “I was very proud of Leilani, she kept us in the match.”
Richlands
The Wildcats managed to score a second half goal and posted a 1-0 ECC victory.
Richlands was able to maintain control of the midfield the majority of the match, which limited the Cougars’ scoring opportunities.
“Overall, we played very well,” said the coach. “The girls are really beginning to understand what we’re trying to do. We did move the ball slowly, though, which really helped Richlands.”
Guata turned in another stellar performance with five saves.
The Wildcats out-shot the Cougars 14-3 and had a 4-2 edge in corner kicks.