Full night of sports at Clinton

It was a beautiful night for sports at Clinton High School on Monday night, with baseball, softball, and women’s soccer all hosting home games as the seasons come to a close. On the pitch, it was senior night against C.B. Aycock, while baseball and softball duked it out with East Bladen. After a back-and-forth game on the baseball diamond, the Horses pulled out the close 8-7 win over the Eagles, while the girls took the rough 18-1 loss in softball. The Falcons swooped in for the win in soccer as well by a score of 4-2.

Baseball

East Bladen took the early lead, getting multiple runners aboard against Josh Slater’s pitching. That didn’t amount to much early, though, as just one run came across the plate in the top of the first. The Horses couldn’t do much to return the favor in the bottom half, with just Jaxson Smith finding himself on base via a walk.

The Eagles flew five runs home to start the second, putting up a 6-0 score against the hosts. Multiple errors by Clinton’s defense allowed the outpouring of runs in the frame. Not to be outdone, though, the Horses ponied up and got their bats swinging quickly.

Slater grounded out to third to start the bottom of the second, but Roady Carter was walked as the next batter to put a runner on base. After a steal and an error, Carter found himself on third. A single by Carson Williams scored him to make it 6-1. Tyler Hall came in as his pinch runner. Hall, Zy Wallace, Brennon Bell, and Henry Bass all scored in the bottom of the second to tie it at six runs for each squad.

After East Bladen didn’t do anything on the scoreboard to start the third, Clinton added two more runs to take the lead in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of Wallace and Grayson Williams crossing the dish. Moving to the top of the fourth, the Horses had the 8-6 advantage.

Offensive production for both teams slowed down, with no runs being added until the Eagles threatened the two-run lead held by Clinton in the top of the seventh. Only one run came for the visitors, though, and they failed to complete the comeback victory, falling 8-7.

Slater and Bell were the two Dark Horse pitchers for the night, with Slater tossing five innings and Bell two. Slater gave up six runs on seven hits, four walks, and a game-high five strikeouts. Bell gave up one run on three hits, while adding a walk and three KOs.

Clinton moved to 16-4 on the season and remains at 6-2 in conference play.

Softball

An early onslaught by East Bladen wasn’t able to be stopped by Clinton on the softball diamond, as the Eagles’ offense poured runs on throughout the shortened five-inning matchup. A two-run lead for the visitors in the top of the first quickly ballooned into a 7-0 score to begin the second, while Clinton’s offense could not find its footing to get runners on base.

Clinton added a run on a fielder’s choice on a hit by Gracin Bass in the bottom of the fourth, who scored teammate Niah Torres in the process. This made it an 8-1 game. The Eagles poured 10 runs on in the top of the fifth for the 18-1 lead, and the Horses could not answer to cut the deficit, ending the game early with the mercy-rule loss.

Krislyn Bryant started the game as the pitcher, giving up eight runs on three hits in her 2 ^2/3 innings pitched. She walked four and struck out one. Alivia Capps came in as relief, throwing 2 ^1/3 innings and giving up 10 runs on three hits, four walks, and four Ks.

Clinton dropped to 4-13 on the season and 1-7 in SAC-6 play.

Soccer

Samiya Smith scored Clinton’s lone goal in the first half, making it a 1-1 game as the teams moved towards halftime. With a tie game facing the two teams for the second half, drama was ready to unfold.

A timely steal from Evan Gillespie gave Clinton the ball early in the second half, who pushed it from deep inside her own zone to Jenna Jackson up the field. Jackson couldn’t formulate a strong attack on the goal, instead sending the ball into the side of the net, although establishing early pressure.

With both teams vying for possession, C. B. Aycock was given a corner kick near the 46th minute. After confusion came for the Clinton defense, the ball slipped into the goal to make it 2-1 for the visitors.

Another one — this time a rocket from the left side — put the Falcons up 3-1 just shy of 51 minutes played. Jackson tried to connect with teammates on a corner kick of her own, looking to cut the deficit, but to no avail. The score widened to 4-1 with 58:48 showing on the game clock as things began to unravel for the hosting Lady Dark Horses. Arizona Tyndall put one more on net for the hosts, but the Falcons flew away with the 4-2 win over the Horses on senior night.

The Lady Dark Horses moved to 10-7-1 overall on the season, but remain at 8-0 in conference play for first place, with a large enough lead over second-place Midway to not relinquish that spot.

Baseball and softball finish their seasons this week with the series with the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes; first at home on Tuesday night before travelling on Friday for the last game of the regular season, as teams await final playoff positioning announcements. Soccer has three road trips to finish out its season, first at Cape Fear tonight, then at Richmond on Friday, and finally at Franklin Academy next Wednesday.