North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
Faithlyn Lewis (6) slides and scores one of three runs driven in by Lilly Carney’s double in the Chiefs six-run bottom of the first inning last Friday. The Lady Chiefs added four more runs in the bottom of the third and won 10-0 to take two out of three games from the Socastee Braves in 5A region play.
By John Smithson
The NMB Lady Chiefs softball team won two out of three games in their 5A season series with Socastee last week.
The Chiefs opened up at home last Monday but lost 6-4 to the Lady Braves. They won at Socastee and then came back home last Friday to win the series.
The Braves opened the first game with two runs in the top of the first on two singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly. The Chiefs got one run back in the bottom of the first when Sadie Olson doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Sierra Bendik grounder to first.
The Chiefs tied it at 2-2 in the bottom of the third. Olson doubled to left, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a Sierra Bendik single. Socastee scored two more runs on a double and home run off of Isabella Foster for a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning.
Sadie Olson walked to start the bottom of the fifth. She stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch. The Chiefs got two more runners on but couldn’t score.
Socastee added two more runs to their 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth on three hits for a 6-3 lead. The Chiefs last chance in the bottom of the seventh yielded one run on a double by Lilly Carney and single by Izzy Fitzgerald with two outs. Carolina Porter was hit by a pitch, but the Chiefs left both runners on base when Faithlyn Lewis lined out to right field to end the game.
The series moved to Socastee on Wednesday, and the Chiefs began the first of two five inning games. The Chiefs run production started with two runs in the top of the first inning. Sadie Olson singled and stole second. Bendik singled and moved to second on the throw with Olson to third. Olson scored on a wild pitch and Bendik came in on a Izzy Bruno single.
Fitzgerald was hit by a pitch to open the second inning for the Chiefs and she stole second and went to third on a catcher’s error. Porter reached on an error as Fitzgerald scored. Porter stole second and scored on a Butler groundout and 4-0 score. Olson walked, stole second and third and scored the Chiefs fifth run on a Hadley Leonhardt single.
Socastee scored a run in the bottom of the second and the Chiefs added a run in the top of the third, Bruno scoring on a wild pitch. The Braves added two more runs in the bottom of the third and the Chiefs led 6-3.
A Porter single, Butler grounder, Olson single scoring Butler, and a walk to Bendik loaded the bases for the Chiefs in the top of the fourth. Leonhardt hit a grand slam home run, and it was 11-3.
The Chiefs scored three times in the top of the fifth inning with Olson doubling in one run, scoring another on yet another wild pitch and Leonhardt knocking in her sixth run of the game with a sacrifice fly. The Braves went down in the bottom of the fifth on a strikeout and double play liner that ended the game.
The Chiefs final game with Socastee was a day away when the Chiefs traveled to Aynor for another game with the Aynor Blue Jackets. The Chiefs led this game 2-1 in the top of the third before Aynor scored six runs in the bottom of the third and eight more in the fourth to take a 15-2 lead. It was over after the Chiefs went down in the top of the fifth.
Isabella Foster and Capri Laughlin pitched for the Chiefs and gave up 11 hits, walked 9 and the Chiefs had three errors to contribute to a score with only five earned runs. The Chiefs had four hits and struck out nine times. The top ten rated Blue Jackets are 10-3 entering this week.
The Chiefs were back home last Friday and finished up their series with Socastee. Sierra Bendik pitched a five-inning shutout while the Chiefs opened the game with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the first inning.
Olson reached base on an error on her fly to left and went to second on the play. Bendik popped out and Leonhardt walked. Olson stole third and Leonhardt took second on a wild pitch. Porter walked scoring Olson. Lewis walked in Leonhardt and Carney doubled to center field clearing the bases and giving the Chiefs a 5-0 lead. Olson’s single drove in Carney for the sixth run of the inning.
The Chiefs put the game away with a four-run third inning, all runs scoring with two outs. Olson singled and stole second and third before scoring on a Bendik single to left. Leonhardt and Bruno singled to load the bases. Porter cleaned the bases with a double to left and the Chiefs led 10-0, that becoming the final score after the Braves were retired in the top of the fifth.
Coach Krystal Mante was glad to get the win and the big inning in last Friday’s game. “We were kind of nervous. We had a tough game on Monday. We just couldn’t get the ball to drop and they were making plays. So, we changed our game plan on Wednesday and kept that game plan going into Friday. It worked. We have been struggling on Mondays, and I haven’t figured out why. We are 7-4 and ranked fourth in the region because of Monday’s loss but we aren’t worried. We are planning to take at least two games of every series so that won’t matter,” Mante said.
