BLADENBORO – The West Bladen Lady Knights defeated the St. Pauls’ Bulldogs for a 13-12 victory last Friday in a SAC 6 Conference showdown. The Bulldogs drew the game at 3-3 after a wild pitch allowed Angel Purcell to cross the plate with ease in the top of the third inning. West Bladen resorted to a pitching change and tasked Marlene Crabtree with getting them out of the inning with three outs to go. Crabtree struck out the first batter she faced but the visitors were able to advance a runner to second base on a steal.

St. Pauls’ senior infielder Kayla Williams singled to left-field but their opponents defense was able to hold the runner at third to prevent the run. The next batter smashed one to shallow left for the second out of the inning. Senior first-baseman Nevaeh Porter broke the deadlock with an RBI-single to center-field to give the visitors a 4-3 lead. Walters held firm in the center-circle and the Bulldogs popped out for the final out in the top half of the third.

West Bladen’s Addison Wilcox was able to slap a grounder through the gap for a lead-off hit to start the host half of the third inning. Junior Kali Allen laid down a bunt to advance Wilcox to second and the Bulldogs elected to throw Allen out at first. The next two Lady Knights suffered pop-outs to the outfield to conclude the inning to keep the score at 4-3.

St. Pauls’ senior Hailey Ray led-off for the Bulldogs at the top of the fourth inning with a single lined to center-field. Crabtree and the supporting cast of Lady Knights behind her barley flinched as they got three straight outs to get off the field. The host suffered a pop-out at their first at-bat but were able to get a runner on with a single to right-field. Holland Davis stole a base to advance herself to second base before West Bladen then suffered their second out with a high-arching infield pop-up. Senior Marlie Walters kept the at-bat alive by smoking a pitch off the short-stop glove for a single and it gave the host two runners on the corners.

Senior Lauren Douglas brought Davis home from third with an RBI-single to tie the game at 4-4. A few moments later, Wilcox returned to the batter’s box and delivered an RBI-single to give the Lady Knights a 5-4 lead. Allen returned to the plate and this time she smacked a double to bring around two more runs to extend the host lead. Crabtree concluded a stellar fourth inning with an RBI-single dropping in shallow right-field to give the Lady Knights a four run lead.

The Bulldogs found a response during their next at-bat by tying the game at 8-8 and they had an opportunity to reclaim the lead with a bases loaded situation. West Bladen needed a single out in order to get out of the inning and they did just that, with Davis making a diving catch in shallow left-field to keep the game tied at 8-8.

The Knights took the lead once more as Walters blasted a single to center-field that allowed Davis to cross the plate with the ninth run of the evening. Douglas followed behind Walters with an RBI-double to extend the lead to two runs. Wilcox smashed a fly-ball towards the outfield that allowed Douglas to tag-up and scamper home to make the game 11-8. St. Pauls needed one more out to close out the fifth inning and the Bulldog coaching staff elected to make a pitching change as their opponents loaded the bases up with runners.

Williams was charged with getting the visitors out of the jam and she was able to get the last out on a pop-up towards the outfield. St. Pauls failed to score in their next at-bat and their opponents added one more run to their tally to hold them off going into the final inning. West Bladen’s Crabtree led the Lady Knights with three RBI’s on a 1-for-3 performance at the plate. Davis went 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored to conclude a perfect evening in the batter’s box.

West Bladen moves to an overall record of 4-5 and after splitting games with St. Pauls, they’ve started conference action with a 1-1 record. The Lady Knights will travel to the Clinton Darkhorses(3-6, 0-2) for their next game in conference this Tuesday and then they will host the Darkhorses this Friday to conclude their week.