Monday’s 3A Conference 32 first round softball game between Cave Spring and Blacksburg had a tentative start for the Knights.
It also had a decisive ending.
Down 2-0 after the first three pitches of the game, Cave Spring roared back by scoring the final 12 runs, winning 12-2 in a game shortened to 6 innings by the 10-run rule.
For Cave Spring, coming off a hitting drought during their 7-5 loss to Hidden Valley in their regular season finale last Thursday, it was a welcome sight Monday as the heart of the Knight lineup took out their frustration on the Blacksburg pitching corps on their way
to collecting 18 hits.
“Hitting is contagious,” Cave Spring’s Kylie Kent noted after her stellar afternoon at the plate that resulted in a 4-for-4 performance. “Everyone started hitting and I got dialed in.”
Blacksburg looked as if they had the hot bats when Kaitlyn Heinze hit the first pitch from Cave Spring starter Cassi Parulis for a double and two pitches later, Kelly McMahon launched a blast deep over the fence in left-center.
But, Parulis, a NYU-signee, would blank the Bruins the rest of the way, allowing only 6 hits on the day, and Cave Spring showed it can be a tough task when they start connecting.
The Knights scored in their half of the first after Kent singled with two outs, stole second and scored on Colgate-signee Pami White’s single.
Cave Spring added two runs in the third when leadoff batter Abby Beatty singled, stole second and came home on Kent’s single, with Kent advancing to second on the throw to the plate. White followed with a RBI double, giving the Knights a 3-2 lead.
Cave Spring pulled away with a 5-run fifth that began with singles by Beatty, Alayna Francis and Kent, along with a double by Parulis that ended the day in the circle for Bruin starter Katie Muscatello. It was finished off by a Kristen Bradshaw double and RBI single by Kinsey Overfelt that had the Knights in control with the 8-2 lead.
The Knights got the winning 10-run advantage in the sixth. Beatty opened with a double, followed by singles from Francis, Kent, White, Parulis and Overfelt. Cave Spring second baseman Hailey Sitze sent the teams to the post-game handshake when her game-winning single plated the 12th Cave Spring run. Sitze also had a strong defensive effort in the field, making key plays when the game was still up for grabs.
“Hailey is a real unsung hero,” Cave Spring head coach Nick Sharp noted after the win. “Big plays in the infield and the hit when we needed it. We call her ‘money’.”
“We just did what we needed to do today,” Sitze said.
Cave Spring now heads to Patrick County on Wednesday for a conference semifinal against the Cougars.
“We took a little extra batting practice and may do it again Tuesday,” Sharp said. “We have some very good hitters. A lot of these girls have been around for three years and have been all the way to a state championship win in 2013. Everyone knows it all comes down to execution.”
Bill Turner
