Scotland softball and baseball pick up conference wins over Lee County, Union Pines

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots softball team picked up a 10-0 victory over the Lee County Yellow Jackets on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland improves to 8-1 (5-0 in conference games) on the season with their seventh consecutive victory while the Yellow Jackets fall to 2-6 (1-4 against conference opponents) with their second straight loss. The game was stopped after the fifth inning due to the score.

Avery Stutts helped start the game off for Scotland on the right foot defensively with two strikeouts in the top of the first inning as Lee County would go down in order. The Scots then grabbed the game by the throat in their half of the first by scoring six runs and sending 10 batters to the plate.

Addison Johnson led off the inning with a single, then stole second and scored on an RBI single from Dawson Blue, who would reach third on the throw. Stutts then drove in Blue with an RBI single as Scotland had three consecutive singles to start the game.

The rest of Scotland’s damage would come with two outs recorded. Emily Sampson would reach base safely on a fielding error by the Yellow Jackets and score Addison Lewis in the process. Marissa Smith would proceed to blow the game open on a three-run home run to make it 6-0.

The Scots would add another run in the bottom of the second. Blue led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Stutts. Ramsey Hale would then drive Blue in on an RBI single to enhance Scotland’s advantage to 7-0.

After a scoreless third frame, Scotland would get the three runs necessary in their half of the fourth to satisfy the 10-run lead by five innings of action. The Scots had two singles, drew two walks and benefited from two Lee County errors in the inning with a steal of home from Kinsey Hamilton also mixed in.

Stutts went 2-3 from the plate and had an RBI while Johnson also went 2-3 on the night with a run scored. Blue and Khloe Radford each had an RBI while Smith led the team in that area with three.

Head Coach Adam Romaine liked how frequently his team was able to put the ball in play and avoid strikeouts (the Scots had just one). That said, Romaine also thought there were some balls in play that could’ve been avoided because they weren’t great pitches to swing at.

“Offensively we put the ball in play quite a bit,” Romaine said. “We weren’t smart on our pitch selection, we swung at some pitches that were balls and it made it easier for them to get an out, we just have to be better on pitch selection going forward.”

Stutts pitched all five innings of the contest and allowed just one hit. Stutts had nine strikeouts and walked zero batters while throwing 48 pitches (43 strikes).

The Scots will now embark on a four-game road trip, starting with a matchup against the Richmond Raiders on Tuesday night. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Romaine acknowledged that four straight road games will be tricky for the Scots to navigate. While Romaine is excited to see what his team is made of over the course of the trip, he also made it clear that Scotland’s one and only focus right now is on Richmond.

“It’s going to be a tough one, we got three conference games and South View is one of the top teams in the 4A, it’s going to let us know what kind of team we have,” Romaine said. “We don’t take anybody lightly, Richmond is a rivalry and anything can happen. We’re going to take it one game at a time.”

Baseball wins third straight

The Scots defeated the Union Pines Vikings in a 7-6 final on Friday night at McCoy Field. Scotland improves to 7-3 (4-2 in conference games) on the season with their third consecutive victory while the Vikings fall to 3-6 (1-3 against conference opponents) with their third straight loss. It was Scotland’s second win over Union Pines in three days, having also beaten the Vikings 11-7 on the road Tuesday night.

The Scots would get on the board first with a run in their half of the first. Dawson Williams led off the inning with a single and then stole second before Blane Callahan and Garrett Manning each drew walks to load the bases with two outs. Dylan Tilson would get hit by a pitch to give Scotland an early 1-0 advantage.

Scotland would add onto their lead in the bottom of the second with Jayden Bryant starting off the inning with a walk before being lifted for a courtesy runner in Bryson McCarter. McCarter would advance to second on a groundout by Briley Lewis and score on an RBI single from Williams.

A hit by pitch and three singles in a row by the Vikings in the top of the third allowed them to get a run back with Dylan Benedict getting an RBI. Union Pines actually had four singles in a row and nearly tied the game at two but had a runner thrown out at home.

The Scots would respond in a big way in their half of the third with Dylan Tilson starting off the frame with a double before a walk from Robbie Peed and Bryant getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases with no outs. Lewis then drew a walk to bring a run across while Williams would get a sacrifice fly to score Peed. A steal of home by McCarter would make it 5-1.

That comfort didn’t last long as the Vikings would get those runs back in the top of the fourth. Scotland committed two errors to start the inning and three in the inning overall as Union Pines was able to trim the margin down to 5-4.

Head Coach Ricky Schattauer didn’t like how the Scots were having trouble with multiple fielding errors in that one frame. While he’s continuing to preach the importance of eliminating mistakes, Schattauer doesn’t want to overthink it and instead focus on getting the job done on offense so the Scots can continue to play relaxed.

“I’m stressing it but I feel like I stress it and now it puts pressure on them,” Schattauer said. “I keep telling our offense if our offense continues to do what we do hopefully we’re a little looser on defense and we make those plays down the stretch. We did a good job of coming back and answering back.”

The Scots answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Manning reached base safely on a Vikings fielding error and then reached third on a double by Tilson, his second of the game. Scotland would make good on the scoring opportunity with a two-RBI single by Peed stretching their lead back up to 7-4.

Union Pines didn’t back down so easily, responding with two runs of their own in the top of the sixth. Singles by David Park and Brodie Lyczkowski (who stole second) set up chances for them to score and they would, with Park scoring on a passed ball while Lyczkowski scored on an RBI groundout by June Thomas. Union Pines had the tying run in scoring position during the top of the seventh but failed to get the run across.

Williams and Peed each had two RBIs in the game to lead the team. Williams and Tilson shared the team lead in hits with two apiece. Scotland had six hits as a team compared to eight for the Vikings.

Schattauer has been pleased with Scotland’s recent ability to score multiple runs in an inning several times in a game. This gives him a lot of confidence that the Scots can continue to stack wins together.

“I feel like we’re turning our one run innings into crooked numbers with our offense, we’re getting a two out hit or runners in scoring position hit to score two, score three in an inning, that’s making us play more loose,” Schattauer said. “Last week we scored at Southern Lee multiple times but only one run and we had runners in scoring position every single inning.”

Manning pitched all seven innings of the contest and allowed six runs, though only three were earned. He had seven strikeouts and no walks.

The Scots will remain at home for three games next week, starting with a nonconference matchup against the Triton Hawks (6-5) on Monday night. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.