Patuxent softball blanks Lackey

After battling through three scoreless innings with her Lackey High School pitching counterpart Dakota Miles last Friday afternoon, Patuxent High junior hurler Autumn Kern appeared to gain a genuine boost in confidence after the Panthers plated two runs in the top of the fourth and the visitors departed with a 4-0 win.

Kern, who also plays field hockey and girls’ basketball for the school and has already verbally committed to Limestone University in South Carolina for field hockey, fanned seven of the last 14 batters she faced to blank the Chargers on five hits. Patuxent (5-11) ended the league slate with two consecutive wins and the Panthers won three of their last four games to head into the postseason with a hint of momentum.

“I felt really good after that,” offered the soft-spoken Kern in regard to her initial run support. “I felt a lot more confident. I thought I made a quick transition from basketball to pitching. It was a good way to end the regular season. I’m looking forward to regionals. I think we can win a few games.”

Lackey (4-11) suffered its fourth consecutive shutout loss after posting a 16-4 victory over Westlake on April 24. The Chargers had two runners on in the first and four Chargers singled over the next six innings, but they were unable to produce a run against Kern. Lackey pitcher Miles allowed two runs in five innings and took the loss, while reliever Amber Boswell allowed two runs in two innings of relief.

“It was one of our best games this season,” said Lackey second-year coach Carl Jones. His son Carl Jones Jr. is a former Chargers baseball player and an assistant coach and his daughter Ashley Jones is a senior on the team.

“We just have to find a way to put some hits together and come away with some runs,” the coach said. “Defensively, we played one of our best games this season.”

Kern not only held the Chargers scoreless through her efforts in the circle, she got the scoring started for the Panthers. Kern led off the fourth with a single, took second on a passed ball, stole third then scored on a Miles’ wild pitch. Kern singled and scored again in the top of the sixth then sophomore shortstop Hannah Bruno singled and scored in the top of the seventh.

After being staked to a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth, Kern limited the Chargers to a grand sum of two singles over the last four frames, one each from Jones and Miles, and fanned seven of the last 14 batters she faced. Kern fanned two batters in each of the fourth, fifth and seventh innings, striking out the last two hitters of the game after Miles singled.