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The Blues concluded a busy softball week by earning a 12-6 home win over Roanoke Catholic on Friday evening in Buena Vista.
With their third consecutive victory, the Fighting Blues (6-4) swept the regular-season series with the Celtics (6-11). When the teams met on Wednesday in Roanoke, PM won 15-5. Friday’s game was PM’s fourth game in four days, with the Blues winning three of four.
The Blues suffered a 6-3 road loss to Craig County last Tuesday, but defeated Pioneer District rival Narrows 26-3 in five innings on Thursday to improve to 2-2 in the district.
At Craig, the game was tied 3-3 in the second before the Rockets pulled away.
Against Narrows, Claudia Coleman led PM with four hits and had three RBIs, Autumn Mundy recorded three hits and five RBIs, and Payton Emore and Logan Vest each had two hits.
In last Wednesday’s game at Roanoke Catholic, Emore led the Blues with five hits, and Mundy had four hits, including a two-run inside-the-park home run, and five RBIs. Vest and Gracey Shafer each had three hits, and Olivia Julian pitched a complete game for the Blues.
In Friday’s game, the Blues took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Logan Vest doubled to bring home Emore, and Julian singled to drive in Vest. PM added two more runs in the third, as Julian tripled on a fly ball to left field to bring home Mundy, and Julian ran home on a wild pitch.
The Celtics got their offense going in the top of the fifth. Harper Sawyer doubled on a fly ball to center field to bring home Kyra Leonard, and Amelia Hamrick hit a fly ball to center field to drive in Sawyer, cutting PM’s lead to 4-2.
PM answered back with an offensive surge in the bottom of the fifth, racking up seven runs to extend its lead to 11-2. Mundy scored on a fly ball to left field by Julian, and Victoria Hamilton doubled to center field to bring home Julian and Coleman. Emore then tripled on a fly ball to right field to drive in Hamilton and Shafer, and Julian hit a grounder to center field to bring in Coleman and Emore.
The Celtics weren’t done, scoring four runs in the sixth. Kyra Leonard brought in two runs with a fly ball to center field, and Sawyer drove her in. Alyssa Leonard then brought home Sawyer with a grounder to cut PM’s lead to 11-6.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, the Blues scored the final run of the game when Hamilton hit a deep ball to left field and hustled around the bases for an inside-thepark home run.
The Blues ended the game in the top of the seventh with three consecutive groundouts. Julian led PM with four hits, while Emore and Coleman each recorded three hits.
Pleased with his team’s offense, racking up 11 hits, PM head coach Troy Clark said, “I think we were relaxed when we were at the plate. We swung the bats a lot better. We’ve done that the last couple games. Several games ago, we did not do that, but the last three games, we actually settled down and swung the bats well.”
Coleman pitched the first five innings for the Blues, striking out four and allowing four hits, one walk and two runs. Julian came to the mound for the final two innings, striking out one and surrendering two hits, one walk and four runs.
PM committed two errors, while RC had none.
“We had a couple fielding errors, but for the most part, we played well in the field,” said Clark. “The main thing is being relaxed, having some fun. We’ve done that the last several games.”
PM was scheduled to play host to Nelson County on Monday before traveling to Covington yesterday. The Blues will make the short trip to Lexington on Monday to take on local rival Rockbridge County. In the previous showdown on April 14, the Wildcats won 13-8 in nine innings. PM will return to district action with a home game on Tuesday against Eastern Montgomery. Both games are scheduled for 5 p.m.
