High School Softball has returned to Spivey’s Corner as Midway and Lakewood squared off in each team’s season opener on Friday night at Midway. The Lady Raiders enjoyed a successful start to the season as they took a home a 12-1 victory over the Lady Leopards.
After holding Lakewood to 3-up-3-down in the top of the first inning, Midway reeled off five runs in the bottom of the inning to set the tone.
Kayley Hawley, hitting in the third spot, belted a no-out hit to score Leah Williams and Caitlyn Holland who had been walked to start the inning. Hannah Lucas continued the rally, hitting a single into shallow center to score Hawley. After a series of passed balls, Lucas took home plate to give Midway a 4-0 lead with still no outs. The final run of the inning came on a Hannah Jackson RBI that scored Alyssa Wrench for a 5-0 lead before Lakewood finally retired the side.
Lakewood showed some fight in the top of the second inning as Madison Tart led off with a double, but the next three Leopard battles went down in order, leaving Tart stranded at second.
The Lady Raiders tallied three more runs in the bottom of the second as Holland, Hawley, and Lucas all made their way around the bases to boost the lead to 8-0.
Midway had one more big burst in the third inning as the Lady Raiders plated four runs to push their lead to 12-0.
Lakewood was able to avoid the shutout in the top of the fifth as freshman Addie Hawks belted a triple down the third baseline. Savannah Simmons recorded the RBI as she put a ball in play that scored Hawks to make it 12-1. The rest of the lineup was retired in order and Midway would claim the win, 12-1.
After the game, Midway head coach Leigh Anne Smith was not only pleased with the win but also expressed excitement about what she sees from her team so far.
“I see a lot of good things out of this group,” Smith began. “They are communicating in ways that I don’t think I’ve seen as a coach. They’re having conversations where they’re thinking ahead and I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever had that. I’m in awe of what I’ve seen this week,” she said.
The mood on the other side of the field was understandably less enthusiastic, but Leopards coach David Yarasheski still has high hopes for his team.
“We dug ourselves a hole early and it was just tough to get out of, especially against a team like Midway who is very aggressive,” Yarasheski said. “We hit the ball better tonight but we made too many mistakes and bad decisions. We have a lot of work to do but we’ll take it day by day,” he concluded.
Leading the way for Midway was Kayley Hawley with two hits and four RBIs. Leah Williams had one hit and an RBI, Hannah Lucas had one hit and two RBIs, and Caitlyn Holland and JJ Sankey each had one hit.
Midway is 1-0 on the season with the win and will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to take on Triton.
Lakewood is 0-1 and will look to get their first win on Tuesday with a trip to Union.
