Lady Raiders seize SAC-7 title

Midway and St. Pauls entered this week’s regular season finale each undefeated in conference play. This series was pivotal for both teams, surely influencing seeding for the start of the NCHSAA 2A State Softball Playoffs next week. Coming out victorious was the Lady Raiders, who took two wins to sweep the series and claim the SAC-7 Conference Championship undefeated.

Thursday

After winning Tuesday’s game at Midway 6-0, the stage was set for the Lady Raiders to travel down to the Lady Bulldogs turf for a shot to win things outright, posting an 8-4 victory on Thursday.

Midway jumped on St. Pauls right out of the gate, fetching a quick three runs in the top of the first inning to quickly grab momentum. Tamia Gwynn and Kyle Ives led the game off with back-to-back singles, setting the stage for Kyleigh Stonerock’s at-bat. After drawing strike one, the freshman standout sent the second pitch deep into right field, which produced an inside the park home run to put the Lady Raiders up 3-0 with no outs. The Lady Bulldogs, though, regrouped and got out of the inning, looking for their first shot on offense.

The result was a quick defensive stand for Midway and the bats were right back in the hands of the Lady Raiders.

In the top of the second, they went right back to work. Jordan Christopher continued to pick on St. Pauls’ right fielder as she laced a line drive out that way that was good enough for a double. Sarah Autry followed suit with an infield ground ball. On the fielder’s choice, Autry was safe at first while Christopher took third. Gwynn drew a walk which loaded up the bases for Midway with no outs. With Ives back up at the plate, a passed ball allowed Christopher to score and the other runners also moved up one base. Ives hit into another fielder’s choice at shortstop but again all runners were safe to produce a run from Autry, making it 5-0. Two batters later, Eva McLamb was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases right back up with one out. Ives was eventually scored on another fielder’s choice by Mollie Bass, making it 6-0 after two completed trips to the batter’s box for the Lady Raiders.

The Lady Bulldogs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second, but they still faced a pretty steep uphill battle, trailing 6-1.

That deficit grew again in the top of the fourth, though, when Midway plated two more runs to make it 8-1. Sam Carter got things going after she reached base following an error at first. Two batters later, she was scored on a double into center field by Bass. She was scored on a dropped flyball at first base by Ella Clark, making it 8-1.

Outside of a big inning in the fifth by St. Pauls, in which they scored three runs thanks to Lady Raiders miscues, the game turned rather defensive as Midway staked an 8-4 victory to conclude conference play undefeated.

Leading the effort in this game was Christopher and Bass, each with two hits. Ives, Stonerock, Autry, and Clark all had one hit apiece for Midway.

Tuesday

Tuesday’s game was also a dominating effort from the Lady Raiders but done so at a more gradual pace. Midway scored one run in each the first, second, and third innings to take a 3-0 lead. Then in the fourth, the Lady Raiders doubled up their score with a 3-run effort to make it 6-0. After that, things turned defensive again as the game coasted to the finish line with a 6-0 final.

In that game, Stonerock, McLamb, Christopher, Bass, and Peyton Herring all got one hit.

Midway finishes the regular season at 15-3 overall and 10-0 in conference play. They await their fate in next week’s playoffs game which are slated to kick off on Tuesday.