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Star Correspondent

On Wednesday afternoon, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones softball squad unleashed a 13-hit attack, and Laci Gobble pitched a gem as EHS (20-10, 3-5 conference) beat Sullivan East 12-2 in conference play. In the process, they snapped a six-game losing skid.

“She did a great job,” Lady Cyclones head coach Kenneth Hardin said. “They had a couple hits late, but she was able to not give any walks. You don’t want to walk players when you have a lead.”

Sullivan East opened the top of the first with second baseman Samara Hall singling to right field. Gobble tossed her only walk of the game to Ryndl Hodge, and she plunked Raquel Del Pretel to load the bases.

Sara Doss then turned on a fastball from Gobble and struck a two-run double off the fence in left field. The Cyclones got a run back in the last of the first on a double from Adrian Heading, a single by Mikina Blackwell and a sacrifice fly to left from Katie Gryder to make it a 2-1 contest.

After a scoreless second inning, the Cyclones turned it loose in the third, collecting six runs on five hits and capitalizing on a pair of Lady Patriots errors to take a 7-2 advantage.

In the inning, Sadie Williams singled to open the frame and scored on Heading’s second hit of the contest to tie the game at 2-2. The Cyclones weren’t through, however, as Blackwell reached on an infield error and Gryder walked to load the bases.

Brook Sparks then singled to right to plate two more runners, and a hit from Lilly McDuffie brought in another for a 6-2 Cyclones lead. A groundout by Jozey Reece brought in the final run of the stanza.

“Good teams take advantage of what the other team gives them,” Hardin said. “We did what we were supposed to do. They hit well, and we changed some things up, and it worked well.”

One change was moving Williams from shortstop to third base, and that paid dividends as she made several plays at the hot corner that showed her athleticism and arm. Williams blasted a solo home run in the fifth inning and finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.

McDuffie was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Gobble collected two hits and drove in a run as well, and Heading also had a pair of hits with a run scored and one RBI.

EHS 12, Sullivan East 2
Sullivan East 200 000 – 2 4 2
Elizabethton 106 311 – 12 13 1

W – Gobble. L – Del Pretel.
HR – Williams. 2B – Heading, Doss.