Lady Rangers ride 19 hits to win over Cloudland
Published 11:49 pm Wednesday, March 31, 2021
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Unaka starting pitcher Sadie Shoun (11) fires a fastball for a strike in the top of the second inning.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Heaven Caraway (2) slides in safe at second with a stolen base as the ball gets away from the Lady Rangers shortstop Alana Parsons (13) in the top of the second. Caraway reached after being hit by a pitch earlier in the inning.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Marlee Hughes (25) drives the ball into right field for an RBI double in the top of the second inning.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady ‘Landers starting pitcher Karah Fields (42) deal a strike in the bottom half of the second inning.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Cloudland shortstop Jasmine Birchfield (21) fires to first for the out on a hot shot to the hole off the bat of the Lady Rangers Kylie Blevins (2) for the first out of the bottom of the second.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Rangers Trinity Bowers (14) drives the ball to right centerfield for an RBI double in the bottom of the second inning.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Heaven Caraway (2) fires the ball back toward the infield after a fly ball to left falls in front of her.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady ‘Landers Karah Fields (42) is out at first, on a bang-bang play, after she laid down a swing bunt along the third base line for the first out of the top of the third.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Sadie Shoun (11) rips a liner down the right field line for a double to open the Lady Rangers bottom of the third.
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FROM STAFF REPORTS
STONEY CREEK – In a key Watauga Valley Conference showdown, the Unaka Lady Rangers brought the big lumber out of the locker room at Ronnie Hicks Field where they were hosting the Cloudland Lady Highlanders.
The result was a 14-7 victory for Unaka which put the ladies from Stoney Creek in the conference’s early driver’s seat.
Unaka scored three runs in the first, five in the second, and two in the third to grab the early upper hand as Cloudland only managed one run over the same frames as the Lady Rangers lead 10-1 at the end of the third.
However, Cloudland can never be counted out as the Lady Highlanders strung together a strong top of the fourth where six Lady ‘Landers crossed the plate to change the landscape of the game as Unaka held tightly to the 10-7 advantage heading into the bottom of the frame.
Although held scoreless in their half, the Lady Rangers shut the visitors down over the next three Cloudland at-bats while adding four more runs of their own to double up the Lady ‘Landers as the contest came to a close.
Sadie Shoun, Alana Parsons, and Noelle Collins collected four hits apiece in the contest. Kendall Bare added a three-hit day as well for head coach Kenneth Chambers squad.
Trinity Bowers (2), Kailey Wilson (1), and Lyndie Ramsey (1) also added to the hit parade for Unaka. Parsons cleared the fence for a home run while Shoun had two doubles and Bowers also doubled.
Shoun went the distance from the pitching circle allowing the seven runs on eight hits and striking out nine Cloudland batters. She issued three bases on balls.
For the Lady Highlanders, Marlee Hughes had a 3-for-4 day at the plate as Cloudland recorded eight hits in the contest. Karah Fields, Jasmine Birchfield, Taylor Hicks, Kaylen Fields, and Krisi Bare recorded one hit each for the Lady ‘Landers.
Karah Fields and Kaylen Fields along with Hughes each blasted a double in the contest.
Cloudland’s pitcher of record was Karah Fields who tossed six innings of softball allowing 19 hits, 14 runs, two walks, and no strikeouts.
