BLADENBORO — Allison Hickman dominated in the circle and sparked the West Bladen offense Tuesday night. It resulted in a 13-3 win against Red Springs in a Southeastern Conference high school softball game.
Hickman, a sophomore, struck out seven and allowed only a hit and a run in four innings in the circle. As the leadoff batter, she went 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and two driven in.
“It was tough because the umpire wasn’t really calling the outside corner which is where I usually throw,” Hickman said. “I started throwing more in when throwing a curveball so it didn’t curve all the way out. I didn’t let it get in my head because if I think about it too much I’ll start throwing bad.”
Master sports schedule | Standings
By the time Hickman left the circle in favor of freshman Maycee Kinlaw the Knights (8-7, 5-0 Southeastern) had built a 7-1 lead, then ended the game with six runs in the bottom of the sixth for their sixth straight win.
Kali Allen was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
“I’m feeling pretty confident,” said Allen, a senior who plays third base. “We have a pretty good team. I think we’ll grow even more.”
Bristol Allen had two hits and scored three times for West Bladen. Natalee Sykes, Brenna Hester, Cylee Lugenball and Kinlaw each had a hit.
“I’m proud of the girls,” Coach Josh Allen said. “We made plays when we needed to, put the ball in play when we needed to and, overall, happy with the continued growth.
“We’ve got some little things we need to clean up. We’ve got to shore up some baserunning mishaps. I’m hoping after this week that we may get (injured starter Addison Wilcox) back, which will help put things back in order.”
West Bladen leads the Southeastern Conference halfway through the schedule, but has a pair of games against second place South Brunswick (11-4, 4-0 Southeastern) and third place South Columbus (5-8, 3-2 Southeastern) remaining following Friday’s game at Red Springs (5-9, 0-5 Southeastern).
Red Springs cut the deficit to 7-3 in the top of the sixth inning, but the Knights sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning that ended it because of the 10-run rule.
Hickman opened the rally with a triple to center and scored on Allen’s bunt single. Kinlaw followed with a single that put runners on first and second. After the next two batters were retried, Karlee Gause reached on an error that plated two runs that gave West Bladen a 10-3 lead.
Lugenbell followed with a single that scored Gause. A single by Bristol Allen and walks to Diyari McKoy and Hickman forced in a run. Kali Allen then ripped a single to left that ended the game.
Leave a Reply