The Midway Lady Raiders enjoyed a successful week in Four County Conference softball action, picking up two wins, including a huge upset over previously conference unbeaten Wallace-Rose Hill on Wednesday. On Friday, the Lady Raiders posted a 6-0 victory over Trask to help preserve their third place spot over Pender.
For Friday night’s game, Midway stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning to establish control. Hannah Lucas recorded a 2-out RBI to score Leah Williams and start a small rally for the home team. Abby Baggett was the next batter up to the plate who blasted a triple deep into the outfield that scored Lucas. A wild pitch later, Baggett safely crossed home plate to make it 3-0 before the Lady Titans could end the spurt.
The next several innings were scoreless until Midway’s bats reignited in the fifth inning. Williams started the inning off with a triple and was RBI’d home by Sankey, who was safe at first base after a wild throw. The next Lady Raiders batter, Alyssa Wrench, notched a double that scored Sankey and was then scored herself after another solid hit by Lucas.
Trask finally ended the spurt, but Midway held a commanding 6-o lead.
A pitching change in the top of the seventh inning presented the Trask with a small opportunity. The Lady Titans were able to get a pair of base runners aboard as Midway was looking to work in other pitchers, but the Lady Raiders stood tall and and thwarted any scoring chances to secure the 6-0 win.
Leading the way for Midway was Lucas with two hits and two RBIs. Williams, Wrench, Baggett and Blythe Best each had one hit.
Midway @ Wallace-Rose Hill
Flashing back to Wednesday’s big win at Wallace-Rose Hill, Midway stormed out to a 4-0 lead over the Lady Bulldogs before they could close the gap to 4-2 in the bottom of the second inning. That was as close as Wallace-Rose Hill got, however, as Midway got a strong pitching performance by Laura Person to help spring the upset.
The Lady Raiders answered with three runs of their own in the top of the third inning to help propel the lead back to 7-2. They added one final run in the fourth inning to make it 8-2 before the game shifted to a defensive struggle that Midway wasn’t going to lose. In what has surely swung momentum in favor of the Lady Raiders, they held on for the 8-2 win, handing the Lady Bulldogs their first conference loss.
Midway head coach Leigh Ann Smith spoke highly of her team after the successful week they’ve enjoyed.
“At Wallace, Laura Person and Blythe Best executed the game plan perfectly. Laura pitched a heck of a game and her pitching stats were awesome. Really, credit to the whole team. They hit the ball well and played a tough defense,” Smith said.
“Pitching and hitting are the two things we’ve struggled to put together but they did come together this past week. We’ve implemented a couple new pitching and hitting circuits and I think it’s helped some. Now we shift our attention to big game on Tuesday at West Bladen.
With the wins, Midway now sits at 11-7 overall and 7-3 in the Four County Conference. Midway will be back in action on Tuesday as they travel to take on West Bladen, who also defeated Wallace-Rose Hill on Thursday to give the Lady Bulldogs their second conference loss as the Lady Knights now sit alone at the top of the conference standings with a 10-1 record.
Midway is scheduled to finish up at home on Thursday against Union.