It was a tale of two games Friday night on the soccer and softball fields at Clinton High School. Squaring off against conference foe Spring Creek, the Lady Horses soccer team brought home a big win while the softball team dropped its contest against the Lady Gators by a similar margin.

Soccer

After stepping out of conference play for a pair of games against high quality, bigger schools, the Lady Horses picked back up where they left off in the East Central Conference: dominating. From start to finish, Clinton was clearly the aggressor as they laid an 8-0 shellacking on the visiting Lady Gators.

The Lady Dark Horses were relentless early, maintaining possession early and applying heavy pressure on the Spring Creek defense.

The Lady Gators kept Clinton from finding the net early, as well as caught a couple of breaks as shots soared over the net, but Spring Creek just couldn’t hold the Lady Horses off.

With 14:32 into the contest, Ashlyn Williams found Elizabeth Coleman who’s shot rifled into the net for the games first goal.

Now with the 1-0 lead, Clinton really ratcheted up the intensity. The Dark Horses barrage of offensive threats picked and with 18:21 on the clock, Williams scored a goal of her own to make it 2-0.

Occasionally, the ball trickled down to the end of the field, but for much of the night the Lady Dark Horses controlled possession; a fact evidenced by the shots on goal tally as Clinton dominated with 19 to just two for Spring Creek.

Williams finished the game with two goals and four assists. Coleman also picked up another goal to finish with two total. Taylor Spell finished with two goals and assist and Olivia Williford and Bailey Spell each had one goal.

With the win, Clinton is in firm control of the East Central Conference with a 9-0 record. East Duplin and Spring Creek are fighting for the second spot. Overall, the win brings the their record up to 13-5-1.

Clinton will close out the regular season with a trio of games next week as they host Wallace-Rose Hill on Tuesday for Senior Night before concluding with a pair of road games on Wednesday and Thursday at Midway and East Duplin.

Softball

Over on the softball field, the Lady Dark Horses softball team was on the opposite end of the spectrum as they endured a 7-0 loss. The struggle continues for them as their second straight loss drops the Horses to 2-13 overall and 2-7 in the East Central Conference. The remainder of the schedule isn’t an easy one as they face off against the top three teams in the conference to close out the season.

First, No. 3 Wallace-Rose Hill comes to town on Tuesday for Senior Night followed by trips to No. 2 Midway and No. 1 East Duplin.

Clinton’s Ashlyn Williams giving chase to a loose ball and surveying the field for an open player.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_Ashlyn.jpgClinton’s Ashlyn Williams giving chase to a loose ball and surveying the field for an open player.

Clinton Pitcher Tori Johnson delivers a pitch.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_Tori.jpgClinton Pitcher Tori Johnson delivers a pitch.

By Daron Barefoot

Sports Writer