Moore Hurls No-Hitter

Wildcats Pick Up 10-0 Win Over Staunton

Sophomore Sadie Moore threw a no-hitter to lead the Rockbridge County High School softball team to a 10-0 home win in five innings over Staunton on Thursday in Lexington. The Wildcats then traveled to face a tough Spotswood team on Friday and lost 10-0 in five innings.

With the nondistrict win over Staunton (2-12-1), the Wildcats (3-11) completed a sweep of the regular-season series with the Storm. When the teams met on March 15 in Staunton, RC won 17-1 in five innings.

Proud of her team’s performance in the rematch, RC head coach Keston Pelter said, “The girls played really well. They played together, had a tight game defensively, and we hit the ball well. We put the ball in play, and they scored their teammates who were on base.”

In the rematch, Moore pitched all five innings, striking out six and allowing no hits, no walks and no runs. “Sadie had a great game on the mound, and her teammates complemented her pitching by getting solid hits,” said Pelter.

The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the first when Page Wright grounded out to bring home Bella Dorey. RC scored again when Parker Dameron tripled to center field to drive in Lilly Thomas. The Wildcats extended their lead to 3-0 when Cameron Terry singled to left field to bring home Landrey Campbell.

In the second, Marla Zollman singled to left field to drive in Dorey, making it 4-0.

The Wildcats added three more runs in the third. Gabriella Brown doubled to center field to bring home Campbell, and Terry and Brown scored when Willow Rogers singled to center field, extending RC’s lead to 7-0.

RC scored its final three runs in the fifth. Dorey doubled to center field to bring home Rogers, and Campbell singled to left field to drive in Thomas and Dorey, ending the game early due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The Wildcats racked up 15 hits. Dorey led the way with three hits, while Moore, Dameron, Rogers and Brooklyn Beverly each had two hits.

RC and Staunton each committed one error.

Spotswood 10, RC 0

The Wildcats suffered a 10-0 road loss to Spotswood (13-4 overall, 6-3 Valley District). With the setback, the Wildcats fell to 1-7 in the Valley District.

In their previous meeting in Lexington on April 9, Spotswood defeated RC 12-2 in six innings.

The rematch was scoreless for the first two innings, but the Trailblazers erupted for six runs in the third, added another run in the fourth, and scored three in the fifth to put the game away.

Spotswood’s runs in the third came on two singles, a groundout, an error and a triple.

Pelter said the Wildcats started strong and played solid ball early on, but the error in the third, one of two in the game, affected the team in a negative way. “Sometimes, one simple error can affect the rest of the game, and that’s why we always tell the girls to have a short memory, to get the next out, and to stay focused,” she said.

The Blazers recorded 11 hits, while the Wildcats had three. Leading Spotswood with two hits each were Taelor Ware, Makenna Doss and Addison Weldon.

Recording one hit each for RC were Moore, Dameron and Brown.

On the mound for Spotswood, Ware pitched all five innings, striking out six and allowing three hits, one walk and no runs.

For RC, Moore pitched all four innings, striking out one and surrendering 11 hits, no walks and 10 runs (six earned).

The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Turner Ashby yesterday. Today, Wednesday, they’ll play host to local rival Parry Mc-Cluer, at 4 p.m., first finishing a game that was stopped by lightning on April 1 in Buena Vista, with the Wildcats leading 6-0 in the fifth inning. They’ll then play the second game of the season series.

RC will return to district action at William Monroe on Friday at 6 p.m. before playing at Broadway on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will conclude the regular season when they play host to East Rockingham next Thursday, May 16, at 5 p.m.