RICHLANDS — After starting off the season just 7-6, the Wildcats have gone on an incredible winning streak which they extended to 11 games with their 9-7 victory in the first round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association State Playoffs on May 7 against Harnett Central.
A big reason for the Wildcats’ win streak heading into the game was their pitching and defensive play which resulted in them not giving up more than three runs in a game during their last 10 games. Starting pitcher Makenzie Goin got off to an uncharacteristically bad start on the mound though, and she gave up a single from Ella Mangum and a RBI triple from Ava Faucette to begin the game.
After forcing a flyout and a strikeout, she then gave up another hit to Harnett Central’s Savannah Bain who gave her team a 2-0 with an RBI single. Goin didn’t let the Trojans do any further damage though as she struck out Evan Blake to end the inning.
Falling behind early didn’t seem to shake the Wildcats confidence though, and it actually seemed to fire up the offense as Reagan Stapleton, Goin, and Erin Thibault opened up the bottom of the first inning with three singles in a row to load the bases. The Wildcats then scored their first run of the game during the next at-bat when LeNayah Jackson groundout for the first out of the inning, but she was still able to knock Stapleton home for the score.
Later in the inning, with Tashi Allen up to bat with one out and the bases loaded, Jordan Meece, who came in as a courtesy runner for Goin, stole home to tie the game at 2-2. During that same at-bat, Thibault and Megan Pittman, who walked during the previous at-bat, also came home on back-to-back wild pitches to clear the bases and give Richlands a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the second inning, that back and forth scoring battle continued as Harnett Central scored another when, with runners at the corners, Mangum hit a groundout which resulted in the second out of the inning but allowed the runner to score from third and cut the Richlands lead to 4-3.
Just when it looked as if the game was once again heading in the right direction for the Trojans, starting pitcher Charleigh Jarriel seemed to have trouble locating the strike zone, and after giving up a single from Cameron Cubas to start the bottom of the second inning, she hit both Stapleton and Goin with pitches to load the bases. With bases loaded and with no outs, East Duplin senior Thibault then hit an RBI single to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead.
Later in the inning with one out and the bases loaded, Jarriel’s trouble locating the strike zone continued, and she walked in a run to give Richlands a 6-3 lead. During the next at-bat, senior Tashi Allen then hit an RBI single to extend the Wildcats lead to 7-3.
That would prove to be the final play at the circle for Jarriel as the Harnett Central coaching staff decided to make a change on the mound, and they brought in Kacey Fulcher to take over pitching duties. The change looked at first as if it may not be an effective one as, during her first at-bat with the bases loaded, she threw a wild pitch allowing Thibault to score from third base and give Richlands a 8-3 lead. Fulcher quickly settled into the game though, and she eventually ended the at-bat with a strikeout and allowed just one more run to score in the inning on a Addi Andrews RBI single before eventually closing it out with another strikeout.
Down by six runs, the Trojans continued to battle, and Faucette opened up the top of third inning with a double. The next batter up for Harnett Central was Lauren Faulkner who also hit a double which should have just resulted in Faucette moving up to third base from second, but an error on the throw after the ball was fielded resulted in Faucette coming home to score and Faulkner advancing to third base. On the very next play, Faulkner also came to score as Sondra Berry hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Wildcats lead to 9-5.
On the mound for the Trojans, Fulcher continued to show why the coaches decided to put her in the game, and thanks to excellent pitching, they held the Wildcats scoreless in an inning for the first time in the bottom of the third.
In the top of the fourth inning, it looked as if Richlands was also going to hold Harnett Central scoreless for the first time when Goin struckout the first two batters she faced; The catcher dropped the ball on the second strikeout though, and the Trojans batter Bethany Gonsalez reached first safely. Gonsalez later came home to score when, with two outs, Faucette hit an RBI single to cut the Wildcats lead to 9-6.
With both Goin and Fulcher finding their rythum at the circle, neither team scored in the fifth or sixth innings, and in the top of the seventh inning still down by three runs, the Trojans had one last inning to tie the game.
Goin got off to a strong start on the mound in the top of the seventh inning when she struck out Faucette to earn the first out, but the next batter up, Faulkner, then crushed a home run to cut the Wildcats lead that was once at six runs to just two. Goin stepped up when she needed to though as she earned a strikeout for the second out of the inning and allowed just a single hit before earning another strikeout to close out the game.
With the win, the number 12 seeded Richlands Wildcats improved to 18-6 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCHSAA State Playoffs where they will take on the number five seeded South Brunswick. The 21st seeded Harnett Central finished the season with a 14-9 overall record with the loss.
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