The Avery Lady Vikings varsity softball team began its season with its first day to play or practice outdoors…a trip to Swannanoa to face the perennially-strong Owen Warlassies.It was a tough first game for the squad as Owen shut out the Big Red 15-0. Avery struggled from the lack of actual play on an outdoor field, but received a solid first outing from starting pitcher Becca Biggerstaff.
Owen jumped on Avery for eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back as the Vikings were unable to garner a hit in the game.
“Becca pitched well for us. She wasn’t responsible for all 15 runs in the game,” Avery softball coach Stephen Bunger said after the game. “We made some mistakes that we’ll work to correct, and we played and hit the ball hard. Owen is a really stout team.”
On Friday afternoon the Lady Vikings had a chance to get in some practice during the break in the weather. The practice and lessons learned from the Owen game paid off with vast improvement on the diamond, as the Big Red earned a 6-4 win at Thomas Jefferson in a contest between 1A conference opponents.
Kaylea Davis was 2 for 4 in the game, including a single and run scored in the top of the first to get Avery on the board. Becca Biggerstaff took the mound for the Big Red, keeping the Gryphons scoreless for the first three innings.
The Lady Vikings added four runs in the top of the fourth inning to push its lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third inning. Jessica Banner singled to lead off the inning. Two batters later Amber Clark walked and Brooke Buchanan singled.
In the bottom of the inning Thomas Jefferson answered with three runs, but Biggerstaff recorded a big strikeout with the bases loaded to prevent further damage.Three consecutive singles by Banner, Dewitt, and
Biggerstaff held TJCA to one hit over the fifth and sixth innings, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh. The Gryphons plated a run to cut the lead to 6-4 and put two runners on base with just one out. Avery battened down the hatches and recorded the final two outs of the game to preserve the two-run decision.
“Becca pitched really well. She fought hard, dug down deep, and got the outs she needed to get,” Coach Bunger said after the win. “Thomas Jefferson fought back, but our girls showed a lot of heart in finishing the game and getting the win. The Owen game on Tuesday helped give us some work on the field and showed us things that we needed to work on to get better. We have potential to do fairly well this year.”
Avery’s junior varsity girls team played only one contest this week, its season-opener at Owen where the Warlassies took a 34-0 win in three innings. A number of strong hits by the Warlassies spoiled an otherwise strong debut from Avery starter Paige Henderson.
The Avery Lady Vikings fell 10-0 in five innings at
