Local roundup: St. Pauls softball tops Clinton

ST. PAULS — The St. Pauls softball team earned a 9-2 home win over Southeastern Athletic Conference foe Clinton on Tuesday.

St. Pauls (14-4, 6-0 Southeastern) scored four runs in the first inning, two each in the third and fourth and one in the fifth. Clinton (5-11, 1-5 Southeastern) scored single runs in the second and sixth innings.

The Bulldogs’ first inning included an RBI single by Angel Purcell scoring Hailey Ray, an RBI groundout by Aniyah Locklear to bring home Purcell, an RBI single by Ke’Mya Baldwin to plate Jada Hall and an RBI single by Yomaris Vasquez to drive in Baldwin.

Vasquez was 3-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate and was the winning pitcher, allowing two earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts in seven innings.

Baldwin, Madison Locklear and Ray each had two hits, with Baldwin recording an RBI and Locklear’s night including a double. Purcell had a hit and two RBIs, Locklear had one hit and one RBI and Roni Hightower had one RBI.

Da’Niyah Coxum and Dalsyn Tew had two hits each to lead Clinton. Laila Carter and Brandi Sessoms had RBIs for the Dark Horses. Alivia Capps was the losing pitcher.

St. Pauls travels to Red Springs on Wednesday before playing the Dark Horses again Friday in Clinton.

The Clinton baseball team defeated St. Pauls 8-2.

Lumberton softball clinches United-8 title

The Lumberton softball team did not play on Tuesday, as Seventy-First forfeited the teams’ scheduled game, but that didn’t stop the Pirates from accomplishing a season goal.

With Cape Fear’s loss to South View, Lumberton clinched the United-8 Conference regular-season championship outright. The title comes after the team shared the regular-season title last year with Cape Fear and South View.

The Pirates finish the regular season Friday when they host Purnell Swett. They will be at home throughout next week’s United-8 Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed.