The Cave Spring softball team was up to its old tricks Wednesday afternoon at the Cave Spring softball complex.
Fall behind early, rally late.
Trailing 2-0 going to the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Knights rallied for 5 runs, capped off by a grand slam homer by senior Pami White, as Cave Spring topped Northside 5-3 in the non-district matchup.
“I think we are trying to find out who we are,” Cave Spring head coach Nick Sharp said after another Knight nail biting comeback. “The girls are still feeling things out. The good thing is that they know how to battle.”
Wednesday’s rally came with plenty of help from the Vikings.
Batting in the last two spots in the Cave Spring lineup, Kristin Bradshaw and Jaz Brickey opened the Knight sixth with back-to-back singles. Northside starting pitcher Morgan Bruce got a strikeout for the first out, but Alayna Francis reached on a misplayed infield grounder to load the bases. Kylie Kent followed with a comebacker to the circle that was booted, scoring one and leaving the bases juiced for White.
White sat on her pitch, and lofted a deep fly to dead center that got just enough help from a swirling wind to clear the fence.
“I was sitting on something inside and got my pitch,” White, a Colgate University signee, said of her game winner. “When I hit it I wasn’t sure if it was far enough, but I was glad it was gone.”
“Pami eats and sleeps softball,” Sharp added of his star catcher. “She was looking inside, it was there and she ate it alive.”
Until the sixth, Bruce had done a great job taming the typically potent Knight bats.
Northside had taken a 1-0 lead in the third after a hit batsman, error and walk loaded the bases for the Vikings. Lyndsey Spangler followed with a single to the right side that put Northside on top.
Cave Spring looked ready to tie things up in the fourth when Francis led off with a triple. But, one out later, Viking right fielder Megan Hubbard gunned down Francis at the plate after she tried to score on a fly out.
The Vikings added a run in the top of the sixth when singles by Hubbard and Shian Huddleston were followed by a double into the left field corner by Erin Jennings.
That led to White’s blast in the bottom of the frame. Northside added a run in the seventh after two were out, but it was too little for the Vikings.
Abby Beatty picked up the win in the circle for the Knights, giving up 8 hits while going the distance.
Kayla Gibson was a perfect 3-for-3 for Northside and Spangler had two Viking hits.
“These are two good teams,” Northside head coach Lynn Richmond noted. “Either team can hit home runs and today it was them. When we played last week, we were hitting and won 8-3.”
Northside is still making adjustments after standout Madison Via recently suffered a broken leg and is expected to be out 6 weeks according to Richmond.
Bill Turner
