Lady Raiders triumph in Game 1

The Midway softball team is one win away from making their second-straight appearance in the NCHSAA 2A Softball State Championship. Hosting No. 4 seed Martin County on Tuesday night, Junior pitcher Sarah Autry put on a spectacular show in the circle, completely shutting down the big bats of the Lady Knights and was instrumental in guiding the Lady Raiders to an 11-0 win to take Game 1 in the best of three series.

Defensively, Midway got off to another great start and set the tone of the game early. One of Martin County’s only two hits in the game came in the opening inning on a Whitney Stevens hit into center. Consecutive strikeouts stranded her at first, though, and the action quickly transitioned to the bottom of the first.

There, the Lady Raiders suffered a similar fate as they stranded Kyleigh Stonerock at second.

The Lady Knights trip to the plate in the second was a brief one as Autry handed out three more strikeouts in one, two, three fashion to quickly move the game into the bottom of the second.

That’s when Midway blew the game wide open. After Martin County got the first batter out, the Lady Raiders turned on their bats. Mollie Honeycutt hit a single into center field and Jordan Christopher drew a walk. Peyton Herring slapped another single into center field, paving the way for Ella Clark (running for Honeycutt) to come home for a 1-0 lead. In the transaction, Herring moved her to second and Jordan over to third, which made it possible for her to come home on a passed ball to make it 2-0. Autry drew a walk and Tamia Gwynn laid down a fielder’s choice that yielded all runners safe and the bases were loaded. That’s when Kylie Ives sent a shot deep into center field, burning all outfielders and allowing Herring, Veronica Tart (running for Autry), and Gwynn to all reach home and make the lead 5-0. A passed ball moved Ives over to third and she was scored on a sacrifice fly ball into left field by Stonerock.

Martin County finally got out of the calamity, but significant damage had been done as Midway led 6-0.

The Lady Raiders defense continued to shine. They couldn’t have asked for a better performance coming out of their big inning, getting another three up, three down to really dampen the Lady Knights’ chances. Autry picked up another strikeout in the inning while also scooping up a solid ground ball hit back to her for an easy out at first. A fly out to Sam Carter in right field put the bats right back into Midway’s hands in the bottom of the third.

There, Honeycutt drew a 1-out walk and was later scored on a hit from Herring that generated an error, allowing Clark, again running for Herring, to come home and make it 7-0.

Stevens got her second hit of the game in the top of the fourth, hitting a hard ground ball toward Ives at shortstop. Ives made a nice play on the ball but couldn’t recover in time to make the play at first base. Still, that was all Martin County could muster as two more strikeouts and another fly out to Carter ended the inning.

Disaster struck the Lady Knights again in the bottom of the fourth as a walk, an error, and a fielder’s choice all contributed to bases loaded with no outs. Eva McLamb hit a high line drive toward Ty’Hiera Wooten, who got a glove on the ball but couldn’t make the play. As a result, two runs scored for Midway, pushing the advantage to 9-0. McKenzie Williams was tossed out at first but some heads up baserunning scored Stonerock and McLamb, pushing the margin to 11-0.

With the game now in the top of the fifth, it was do or die time for Martin County. Autry, though, was laser-focused. She forced a pop-fly that catcher Mollie Honeycutt snagged and then two more strikeouts produced another three up, three down to secure the Game 1 victory at 11-0.

Offensively, Midway was led by Herring, who had two hits and one RBI. Ives had one hit that went for three RBIs. Stonerock, Gwynn, and Honeycutt had one hit each.

In the circle, Autry allowed just two hits against 10 strikeouts and no walks.

“Sarah was awesome tonight,” said Midway head coach Susan Clark. “She went in with a game plan, executed it and kept them off the board. She had one of her best games tonight for sure.”

Speaking of keeping them off the board, this was the Lady Raiders’ fourth shutout of the playoffs…an effort that Midway would love to replicate on Thursday.

“Our confidence is high but we are experienced enough to know that anything can happen,” Clark affirmed. “We need to hit the ball and not take them lightly,” she concluded.

With the win, Midway is now 20-3 on the season. They’ll look to wrap up the series on Thursday night and punch their ticket back to the State Championship series. Game time at Martin County is 6 p.m.