HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Hartsville scored 13 runs in the first, rolling to a 16-3 win over May River in Tuesday’s round of the Class 4A playoffs. The Red Foxes play Thursday at Lugoff-Elgin with the winner traveling to South Florence for Saturday’s bracket final.
But entering the bottom of the first, coach Amber Harvey’s Red Foxes trailed 1-0.
“I was very impressed with us coming back; we had an error in the first inning. So, bouncing back and putting a lot of runs on the board really gave us a peace of mind,” Harvey said.
There was no need for a mid-inning pep talk.
“I really don’t say anything like that on game day. I try to let them figure things out for the most part,” Harvey said. “Unless they need a good talking to, I try to let them play nice and relaxed.”
While Hartsville’s bats connected, the Red Foxes also took advantage of May River miscues.
Run-scoring singles by Avarie Easters and Abbey Byrd put Hartsville (15-8) up for good with a 3-1 advantage. After EmmaKate Hudson was hit by a pitch and Jamarriah Pendergrass hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1, a Carter Shumate single made it 6-1.
But the Red Foxes were far from done when Myah Harvey added an RBI single. Then, a short time later, Trinity Davis blasted a grand slam over the center-field fence to make it 11-1 (Davis finished with six RBI).
Byrd added another run-scoring single, and Pendergrass added an RBI groundout before the Sharks escaped the inning.
“I think it gave us a peace of mind that we did what we needed to do, and we just needed to keep it up,” Easters said.
Davis added a sacrifice fly in the second, and pinch-hitter Aliyah Smith hit a two-run homer in the fourth.
Jaysha McCullough, and Byrd were each 3 for 4, scoring three and two runs, respectively. And Easters had two hits.
Caydon Thompson, meanwhile, was walked each of the four times she stepped to the plate. Still, she was happy with her team’s 14 hits.
“We were able to get our hitting and get (the lead) back in the bottom of the first, and it was just about having a good time from there,” Thompson said. “I feel like we always have good energy. If we start up, we keep going up.”
Allie Bailey was the winning pitcher.
Up next is Lugoff-Elgin, which won the 2021 state championship over Darlington.
“After a win like this, hopefully we can take this energy to Lugoff-Elgin,” Harvey said. “They have a little bit more speed, so we’re going to have to have a different game plan tomorrow at practice to get prepared.”
May 9, 2023 | Morning News (Florence, SC)
Author/Byline: SCOTT CHANCEY Morning Newsschancey@florencenews.com | Section: News