The Jackson Victors visited Raider Park to take on the Lady Raiders on a beautiful Thursday evening. Once again showing glimpses of a promising future to Lady Raider Softball, JA got an aggressive start on the Victors; striking out the first batter and getting a fly out on the second batter of the game. A miscommunication in the infield allowed another routine fly ball to drop, then the 4th batter advanced to first after being hit by a pitch. But the Lady Raiders responded by striking out the 5th batter to end the threat in the first inning.
The bottom of the first saw a Delany Wallace hit push Columbia Holeman across the score plate and a dropped fly ball, hit by Ashton Berry, send Kathryn Butler in to score, giving the Lady Raiders 2 runs and runners on the corners. A steal by Berry and a base on balls by Lily Crawford put potential scorers on every bag but the Lady Raiders could not convert, leaving the bases loaded to end the inning.
In the top of the 2nd inning, the Victors evened up the score at 2 and also left the half inning with bases loaded. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Lady Raiders had only 4 plate appearances and no hits and no runs scored.
In the 3rd inning, a combination of pitching and fielding errors allowed the Victors to put up a big 7 run half inning, giving them a 9-2 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd. The Lady Raiders answered, though. Berry led off with a base on balls, followed by a Robyn Hadden single to left field. Mary Lindley Tharp put down an excellent bunt that not only moved the runners, but put her on first as well. Addison Avdoyan reached on an error by the Victors’ first baseman and pushed Berry and Hadden across the plate for 2 runs. Tyler Pitts loaded the bases with a single to right field allowing a Holeman single to left field to send Lindley in for another run. Butler was up next and with a single to left field sent Avdoyan and Pitts in for 2 additional runs. Wallace hit a hard ground ball to the Victors’ third baseman but Holeman beat her to the bag and was safe on third. Berry then grounded out, but also moved all of the runners, including Holeman who added the sixth run of the inning for the Lady Raiders. With 2 outs, Hadden was hit by a pitch and Crawford singled to right field, giving the Lady Raiders the lead as Butler and Wallace scored. With bases loaded and 2 outs, a caught fly ball hit by Tharp ended the Raider rally, but with a 10-9 lead.
A couple of early Lady Raider errors in the 4th inning put runners on base for a Victors double to left field that scored two, giving the Victors the lead back. With 2 outs on them, the Victors were able to tack on an additional 5 runs to extend the lead by 6 runs. The Lady Raiders were unable to answer this final inning and lost by a score of 16-10.
