Lady Rebels advance to district championship with a walk-off win

PROSPERITY, S.C. — Mid-Carolina varsity softball moves on to the district championship round after winning with a walk-off in extra innings. The Lady Rebels(9-14, 7-0 region 3-AA) defeated High Point Academy(10-12, 8-0 region 1-AA) 1-0 at home to advance in the 2A softball state playoffs.

Mid-Carolina and High Point Academy needed extra innings to decide who will advance to the district championship round. The two teams got together on Wednesday, May 14 for a instant classic playoffs battle.

They needed extra innings to decided this game because it was scoreless for eight innings. Rebels’ senior Gabbi Riddle Grizzlies’ senior Julie Raines started in the circle for their respective teams and had themselves a pitcher’s duel.

Riddle was flawless through the first inning, but found herself in a jam at the top of second inning. She gave up a hit and a walk to put two runners on base. The Grizzlies had two sacrifice hits to advance the runners, but the Rebels made smart decisions to throw out two runners at home to prevent to potential scores. Riddle then had a strike out to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

Katie Gallman got things going at the bottom of the second inning for the lady Rebels with a double, but she was left stranded on the bases.

Neither teams could get anything going for two innings, but the home team had a spark at the bottom of the fifth inning. Mary Grace Bryant got single to get things going for her squad. Nora Cutler reached base next on a walk. Unfortunately, the Rebels left both of them stranded at second and third base.

Neither team could get anything going for the next few innings, but things got interesting at the bottom of the seventh inning. Bryant got a double with two outs and then stole a base to get on third. Again, she was left stranded and the game went into extra innings.

Mid-Carolina made a strong defensive effort to hold High Point Academy but were also held until the bottom of the ninth inning. Bryant got things started with a single and the Cutler got on base with a walk. Raelyn Cutler had enough of the back-and-forth. The left-handed hitter smack a line drive shot between the second and first base to score the walk-off run.

“To be honest, things didn’t go well for us early on. We were over swinging at times, popping everything up and just couldn’t get anything to fall. We kept going. kept fighting, kept believing and kept making swings. Hats off to their pitcher because she really kept us off balance. She was throwing the ball away, mixing up her speeds and we just missed a lot of pitchers,” said Rebels’ head coach Joey Long.

“Things started to turn for us in the eighth though. We got a few runners on base and they made some mistakes but we just couldn’t get the run we needed to in. I felt good about the ninth though especially with the international tie breaker. They couldn’t get their run, which was big, and I felt like we could make it happen.”

Riddle threw a complete game and only allowed five hits with five strikeouts.

“She has been one of those kids throughout her career that I can throw up there anytime and she is going to compete. She is one of our seniors and plays the game like you are supposed to play it, which is hard as you can and if she makes a mistake then so it be and she brushes it off,” said Long. “She competed on the mound tonight. Hats off to her for keeping them off balance and just pitching a heck of a game. I don’t know how many hits she gave up but she didn’t have any walks and didn’t give them a lot of extra base hits.”

Mid-Carolina will now travel to Pelion to face them on Thursday, May 15 in the district championship. The Rebels will need to win two games to win the district title and advance to the Upper State championship bracket.