South Caldwell’s offense finally got the best of Watauga’s softball team Thursday.

Even though Watauga turned a rare triple play to get out of a jam in one inning, South Caldwell kept putting pressure on Watauga’s defense and managed to take a 5-4 victory in eight innings at the Carroll Complex.

The Pioneers followed with an 11-1 loss to Freedom in the Pioneers regular-season finale Friday night.

South Caldwell finished with 11 hits, including a 4-for-4 performance from Christian Hall. However, it was a single from Katelyn Cook that drove in the go-ahead run in the eight inning that eventually put the Spartans on top 5-4.

“It was tough,” Vannoy said. “We made a good pitch and the batter did her part as far as make contact. She looped it into that no-man’s area and there’s not a whole lot you can do about that. If you try to position the defense to stop that, then you give up the big hit in the gaps. It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes.”

Watauga got the most out of its four hits by scoring a single run in the third and two more in the sixth inning to take a 3-1 lead. When South Caldwell went in front for the first time 4-3 with a three-run rally in the top of the seventh, Watauga’s Chandler Butler delivered a two-our RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game 4-4. Breanna Stenkie led the inning off with a walk, reached second on a Kelsey Rominger sacrifice bunt and third on a deep fly ball to right field by Kayla Kincaid.

But South Caldwell struck back in the top of the eighth by loading the bases for Cook, whose single gave the Spartans the lead for good. It was Cook’s only hit of the game.

Watauga claimed an 1-0 in the third inning lead when Kincaid, after opening the inning with a triple, scored on a Kara Tester sacrifice fly. South Caldwell answered with a run when Hall scored on a Watauga error, but the Pioneers stuck two runs on the board in the sixth when Butler and Nicole Dollar, running for Hannah Yates, scored on a ball hit by Evelyn Pierce.

Butler went 2-for-4 giving her half of the Pioneers’ hits. Kincaid had a hit and Tori Wright helped out a single in the bottom of the eighth inning, but was caught up in a game-ending double play one batter later.

“We had some good at-bats against a good pitcher,” Vannoy said. “They’re one of the hot teams in the conference going in. They’ve beaten some good teams and they’ve done a good job. That pitcher has shut down a lot of teams and we did a good job of moving runners over and taking advantage of things.”

Watauga turned a rare triple play in the sixth inning when Tester caught a Kristin Lackey fly ball in center field with the bases loaded. She then threw Whitney Keller, who was trying to advance on the play, out at second. Rominger, who was covering the base, also tagged second base to double off South Caldwell’s runner, who did not tag up on the play.

Tester also threw out a runner at home after catching a fly ball to complete a double play in the third inning.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a triple play,” Vannoy said. “If I had one when I was coaching, it was in baseball. I never had one in softball that I know of. It could not have come at a better time with the bases loaded and keep the game time at 1-1.”

Wright, who pitched a complete game for Watauga, struck out two and walked just one. She also hit two batters.

Hall, pitching for South Caldwell, fanned three and walked two.

South Caldwell 5, Watauga 4
South Caldwell 000 100 31 — 5 11 1
Watauga 001 002 10 — 4 4 3
Hall and Lackey. Wright and Pierce. W—Hall, L—Wright. LOB—South Caldwell 7, Watauga 5. 2B—South Caldwell, Hall. 3B—Watauga, Kincaid. SH—Watauga, Butler, Wright. HBP—South Caldwell, Spencer, Lackey. DP—South Caldwell 1, Watauga 1. TP—Watauga 1.