BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WV News) — Tori Anderson overcame some early wildness and settled in to fire a four-hitter, while teammates Avery Childers and Gina Alvaro both belted home runs to key Robert C. Byrd to a 6-0 victory over rival Bridgeport in prep softball action Tuesday at Bridgeport Middle School.
Both teams left the diamond with 1-1 records.
Anderson was locked in a duel with Bridgeport’s Chloe Pethel until the Flying Eagles were able to break the game open with five runs in the final three innings.
The game was close at 1-0 before RCB was able to plate three unearned runs in the fifth.
After one out, Khloe McAvoy reached on an error. After another out, Alvaro laced a double down the left field line to score McAvoy for a 2-0 lead. Childers then followed with a towering home run over the centerfield fence to move the RCB lead to 4-0.
The Eagles then added insurance runs in the seventh as McAvoy once again got aboard on an error after one out. Pethel struck out the next hitter before Alvaro deposited the first pitch of the next at-bat just over the fence in left-center field.
This made it 6-0, and Anderson finished her strong outing by fanning two of the final three hitters in the bottom of the seventh.
“(Anderson) kept us in the game by keeping it around the plate and letting her defense back her up,” RCB coach Mary Mayer said. “We hit the ball hard the whole game but those two homers really got us over the hump.
“I was really pleased with the way we played at the plate.”
Anderson struck out seven and walked three in earning the win.
Pethel gave up just six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. She also had two of the Indians’ four hits.
“Chloe pitched well and the error we made in the fifth really was a killer that gave them the three runs,” Bridgeport coach Chelsea Holcomb said. “That and we had some some base running errors that really hurt us from a momentum standpoint.
“That is something we must get better at.”
Bridgeport had a chance to tie the game in the third when Pethel lined a shot to left field that RCB’s Martina Howe snagged out of the air and then gunned down Rachel Mason, who had tagged up, at the plate with a perfect one-hop throw allowing Alvaro to apply the tag.
“We had a chance to gain some momentum there but we hesitated and they made a great play,” Holcomb said.
Alvaro drove in three runs with her home run and double with Childers adding two RBIs with her dinger. McAvoy added a single and three runs scored.
“This was a great win for us, one through 19,” Mayer said. “Everybody on the team contributed to this win in one way or another.”
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