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With a strong opening week, the Parry McCluer High School softball team earned two nondistrict road wins, overcoming Nelson County 15-11 on Monday of last week before defeating Temple Christian 8-3 on Friday.
Against Nelson, the Fighting Blues (2-0) overcame four errors and an early 4-1 deficit to start the season with a win. PM broke away from a 5-5 tie in the fifth and scored eight consecutive runs to go up 13-5 before fending off a comeback attempt by the Governors, who ended the week at 0-3.
PM junior Olivia Julian pitched a complete game to earn the win.
Junior Logan Vest led the Blues with four hits and had two stolen bases and an RBI, while Julian added three hits and three RBIs. Senior Payton Emore and freshman Kendall Painter each recorded two hits and two RBIs.
In the first inning, after Vest singled, Julian singled to bring her home. Nelson then scored two runs on a double by Alayna Taylor to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Governors then scored two runs on a PM error in the second to take a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second.
In the top of the third, Vest led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a double by Julian. Junior Victoria Hamilton then singled to drive in Julian, cutting Nelson’s lead to 4-3.
The Blues added two more runs in the top of the fourth to take a 5-4 lead, with Emore scoring on a double by Vest and Vest scoring on a single by Julian. The Governors scored on a PM error to tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth.
PM added two more runs in the fifth, with sophomore Kadence Zollman laying down a sacrifice bunt, to put the Blues up 7-5.
In the sixth, senior Autumn Mundy drove in a run with a single, and Painter brought home two more runs with a single, and senior Gracey Shafer scored on a single by Zollman. Emore drove in two more runs with a single to finish the six-run sixth inning, putting the Blues up 13-7.
The Governors scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut PM’s lead to 13-7, but PM scored two runs in the top of the seventh, on singles by Shafer and junior Natalie Mohler.
PM committed four errors and allowed four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Blues held on for the win.
Reviewing the game, 10th-year PM head coach Troy Clark said, “We were a little anxious in the first game and we struggled defensively, but I was proud of the way we swung the bats and battled throughout the game.”
PM 8, TC 3
The Blues broke away from a 3-3 tie to earn an 8-3 road win over Temple Christian on Friday in Madison Heights.
In the first, the Crusaders (0-1) led off with two singles, and they both scored on a PM error to give TC a 2-0 lead.
The Blues answered back in the fourth when Shafer doubled to bring Softball home Julian and Hamilton, tying the game 2-2. Emore then scored on a sacrifice fly by Vest in the fifth to give PM a 3-2 lead, but TC responded with a run in the sixth to tie the game.
In the seventh, the Blues erupted for five runs. Emore drove in Zollman with a single and then stole two bases before scoring on a triple by Vest. Munday then drove in Vest with a single, and Julian brought home Mundy with a sacrifice fly. Hamilton later scored on a single by Painter for the final run of the game.
Emore led PM with three hits and three stolen bases, Hamilton added two hits, Painter had two hits and an RBI, and Shafer recorded one hit and two RBIs.
On the mound, Painter pitched a complete game, striking out six and allowing one walk and one earned run.
Going over the game, Clark said, “Temple Christian’s pitcher is pretty good. We had good at-bats and played better defensively and Olivia pitched well. Our goal is to get better every game, and we were able to do that. It was a great team effort.”
The Blues hope to build on the success of last year, when they went 11-8 overall and 6-2 in the district, falling 9-1 to Covington in the district finals before concluding the season with a 4-2 loss to George Wythe in the Region 1C finals.
From last year’s team, the Blues graduated one player, senior pitcher Claudia Coleman, an all-region selection, but they return seven players, led by all-region selections Emore, Mundy, Julian and Vest. Emore, a shortstop, was named to the all-state second team last year.
The Blues have three seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.
Returning to serve as Clark’s assistant coaches are Jimmy Emore and Keith Ruley.
The Blues will start Pioneer District action when they play at Narrows next Wednesday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m. They’ll then play host to local rival Rockbridge County on Monday, April 1, at 7 p.m. before returning to district action at Eastern Montgomery on Tuesday, April 2, at 5 p.m.
