Watauga rallies

past McDowell
By Andy Kruse
Special to the Democrat

Watauga’s softball team beat McDowell 6-4 at the Carroll Complex in the first round of the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament Friday.

A dramatic ending had the Watauga crowd jumping out of their seats. With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Hannah Yates cracked a double to center field, driving in Chandler Butler and Nicole Reilly.

Then, in the top of the seventh inning, Pioneer second baseman Kelsey Rominger made a stellar double play to send the Titans home. After fielding a hard ground ball, she tagged the runner headed for second and then threw out the batter at first.

Rominger humbly took no credit for her game ending play. “I’m just glad we won,” she said.

Reilly, who pitched for the Pioneers, was happy that Yates produced the two RBIs that gave her a win in her final home game at Watauga.

“Yates is our clutch hitter,” Reilly said. “When we need it she’ll come through.”

The game was action-packed from the beginning when McDowell’s Whitney Ryer popped a two-run homer in the first inning.

Watauga answered in the bottom of the first inning when Reilly got on with a double to center. She was driven in by Yates, who also hit a double.

Then Yates scored on a single from Beth Wilson.

In the second inning the Pioneers scored two more runs when Jennifer Ballew and Rominger crossed the plate off a double from Butler. But Ryer came back for the Titans again in the third inning with another two-run homer which tied up the game at 4-4.

“Our defense played great,” Butler said. “The team was really together and really supporting each other.”

Pioneer coach Brian Vannoy was also proud of the teamwork he saw.

“That was a fun game,” he said. “This team usually gives us a hard time, but we hit the ball hard all night.”

The Pioneers have now built up momentum headed into Tuesday’s second round of the tournament, where they play Alexander Central in Taylorsville.