WHITMIRE, S.C. — The Lady Wolverines are back in the district championship for the third consecutive season after a huge win on Friday evening. Whitmire(19-5, 12-1 region 1-A) defeated Ware Shoals(4-16, 3-7 region 1-A) 5-2 on Friday, May 8 at home to advance to the district championship.
Whitmire and Ware Shoals met for the third time this season and this time it was a district championship appearance on the line. The Lady Wolverines won the previous two meetings and were looking to make three in-a-row. Kenleigh Epps got the start in the circle for Whitmire and she had no issues through the first two innings. She walked one batter at the top of the first inning but didn’t allow a hit nor a run.
On offense, Epps was able to a single to get things started for Whitmire and she advanced to third base but they were not able to bring her in for a score and the game remained scoreless going into the second inning.
The second inning was Epps best work in the circle because she only threw three pitches for three outs to retire Ware Shoals. Chloe Hix was able to get things going for Whitmire with a hard hit ball to the infield and she was able to reach second base safely after a bad throw by the Ware Shoals defense. Brielle Whitmire laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring in Hix for the first score of the game. The Lady Wolverines would take a 1-0 lead into third inning.
Epps would run into some trouble at the top of the third inning. She would walk the first batter she faced in the inning and that would later lead to a RBI single that tied the score, 1-1. Then, a controversial ground ball infield interference play would lead to Ware Shoals having bases loaded but left the Whitmire side scratching their heads. The call would remain the same after a discussion between head coach Andrew Campbell and the three umpires calling the game. The Lady Hornets would score their second run on sacrifice pop fly and eventually the home team would get out of the inning.
The bottom of the fourth inning would be an offensive explosion for Whitmire. They trailed 2-1 and would erase that deficit in the inning. Alleigh Corley started things off with a double. Hix would get her second hit of the game with a single and then would add to her stat line with a stolen base. Raylin Vicars would lay down the sacrifice bunt to bring in a run and tie the game, 2-2.
Holley Robertson would get a RBI double to bring in another run. The Lady Wolverines would get back to the top of the order and Epps would hit a RBI single to add to the lead, 4-2. Ware Shoals would stop the damage and get out of the inning.
The home team would add to their add at the bottom of the fifth inning after Autumn Gilliam hit a double. Gilliam would then steal third and home on two wild pitches to extend Whitmire’s lead to 5-2.
Ware Shoals would show some fight at the top of the sixth inning as they continue to try to pull off the upset. Epps would give up a single but that would be it. She would close out the sixth and seventh inning to record the complete game.
“They[Whitmire softball] are some grinders. I talked to them and I think they kind of let the big crowd, probably the biggest one we’ve had so far this season, get to them early. I just told them that we’ve got to have fun and do what we’ve been doing all year. They flipped the switch and started playing ball. They don’t care who it is but we could be up by 10 or down by 10, they are going to fight the whole time,” said Campbell.
Whitmire now will have to wait on the winner between Ware Shoals and Wagener-Salley, which will be played on May 11, to decide who they will face in the district championship game.
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