PROSPERITY, S.C. — The Lady Rebels keep on rolling by picking up their eighth win in the last nine games to remain at the top of the region standings. Mid-Carolina(12-6, 4-0 region 3-AA) defeated Ninety Six(7-3, 4-1 region 2-AA) by the score of 5-4 at home on Friday, April 10.
Mid-Carolina entered Friday’s contest as one of the hottest teams in AA with just one loss over their last 10 games. They looked to keep on rolling and got off to a hot start against Wildcats.
Mary Grace Bryant got the start at pitcher for the Lady Rebels and she had a strong outing. Bryant had some early troubles at the top of the first inning by giving up a single and a walk to put to runners on base, but her defense had her back. Mid-Carolina was able to successfully execute the double play to end the inning and get out of the jam.
The two teams would be scoreless through the opening two innings, but Mid-Carolina would strike first at the bottom of the third inning. Bella Sabbagha brought in the first run with RBI single to make it 1-0. Katie Gallman then hit a sacrifice pop fly deep in the outfield to give the Rebels a 2-0 lead.
Bryant provided her own run support with a RBI single to extend the home team’s lead and make it 3-0. Bryant found herself in another jam at the top of the fourth inning by giving up back-to-back singles to put two runners on base, but her defense had her back yet again and she was able to get out of the inning.
Mid-Carolina began to pull away some more at the bottom of the fourth inning. Harper Snow hit a two run moonshot over of the left field wall. The home run gave the Lady Rebels a 5-0 lead.
Now, fast forward to the top of the sixth inning where things got very interesting and tight for the home team. Bryant was looking to continue her very good performance, but the Lady Wildcats would began to find some success at the plate. Sophomore Kam Williams would put the first runs on the scoreboard for Ninety Six with a RBI double. Emma Gentry would continue to keep the runs coming in with a RBI triple to cut the deficit down to 5-3.
Gentry would later steal home on a wild pitch to make things even tighter. Ninety Six nearly erased their five point deficit to now only trail 5-4 heading into the final inning.
The visiting team would really make things a lot tighter at the top of the seventh inning. A single would put the first runner on base for Ninety Six and then Mid-Carolina would commit a crucial error to put another runner on base with just one out. The Lady Rebels center fielder would drop a routine pop fly to that would put the winning run on first base.
Mid-Carolina would dig deep and get the final two outs to put this nail bitter of a game away and give them their eighth win in the last nine games. They would go onto defeat Newberry in part two of the rivalry softball series by the score of 15-0 on April 13th to get win number 12 of the season. Now, they turn their focus to a region battle against Columbia at home on Friday, April 17th.