Mid-Carolina suffers a setback with a blowout home loss against Ninety Six

PROSPERITY, S.C. — The Mid-Carolina varsity softball team suffered a minor setback after a tough home loss. The Lady Rebels(6-7, 5-0 region 3-AA) fell 12-1 at home on Thursday, April 3rd to Ninety Six(11-3, 5-1 region 2-AA).

Mid-Carolina had a tough mid-season test at home on last Thursday as they welcomed one of the top teams in the state for class AA. Unfortunately, they had didn’t study hard enough and had no answers for this mid-term exam.

Gabi Riddle got the start in the circle for the Rebels and she had a rough opening inning. The Wildcats got things going early by getting base runners and driving them in. They score four runs in the top of the first half and held a 4-0 lead.

The Lady Rebels showed some fight as Nora Cutler hit a double and then scored later that inning off a RBI single from Malloree Grimsley. The home team were able to cut into the deficit, but still trailed 4-1 going into the second quarter.

Ninety Six keep their hot hitting at the plate going in the second inning by hitting a solo home run to add to their scoring total. They were able two more runs to go into the bottom half of the second inning leading 7-1.

The visiting Wildcats repeated the same cycle at the top of the third inning. They slapped a two-run home run to extend their lead. Then, added another run with a sacrifice fly to give them a 10-1 lead.

Mid-Carolina made some noise in the bottom half of the third inning, but couldn’t drive home any runs. They left two runners stranded on base. The Rebels made a pitching change at the top of the fourth inning in hopes to get a spark. Unfortunately, that didn’t work and head coach Joey Long had to go back to the bullpen.

The Rebels would go on to give up two more runs in the fifth inning and that would end their tough night on the diamond.

“Well, we knew that Ninety Six was going to be a good team coming in. They have a lot of upper classmen and kids that have been playing together for a long time. We knew that we were going to have to play really well to be successful, but the bottom line is that we didn’t play well. We were flat, had no enthusiasm, and no excitement,” said Long.

He continued, “The message was to keep fighting. Keep fighting for our team and keep fighting for yourself. There were times we did and then times were we jumped off the bus. It was a game of shifts. First inning, we were in the game down only 3-1 or 4-1. We scratched back one there and then the wheels kind of fell off.”

The Rebels were able to shake off the tough loss with a 5-2 win on Senior Night against Chester on Friday, April 4th. Mid-Carolina will travel to Ninety Six on April 15 for the second matchup of the season, but will have a three-game slate in between. Their next game will be at home on April 8th against Columbia High School.