Balanced attack
By Steve Behr

Renee Taylor made sure Watauga’s 11-12 year old Little League all-star softball team had plenty of offense against Morganton Friday night. Megan Jackson made sure Morganton would not counter with any offense of its own.

Taylor went 4-for-4 with a walk-off triple, and Megan Jackson struck out nine batters in four innings to lead Watauga to a 14-3 victory in the loser’s bracket of the District 7 tournament. Watauga went into the Fourth of July weekend still alive in the tournament with a two-game winning streak.

Watauga plays again July 11.

“Tonight there was a winning attitude on the bench and a winning attitude on the field,” Watauga coach Jay Jackson said. “That is how we capitalized on the game previous to this one. Now we’ve got a little momentum.”

Taylor belted a two-run triple that landed a few yards shy of the centerfield fence that capped an eight-run fourth inning. Taylor’s triple allowed Watauga to win the game using the 10-run mercy rule.

Taylor also drove in a run in the first inning and another in the second. She ended up on third base following that single because of an error in left field and scored on an Abby Carson single.

Watauga finished with 13 hits and benefited from two Morganton errors. Jackson added two hits, including a two-run triple of her own in the second inning, and ended up scoring three runs. Jackson received two walks in the fourth inning and scored on Taylor’s triple.

There were others who contributed to Watauga’s offense. Lead-off hitter Hope LaPointe singled twice, one that drove in two runs in the fourth inning, and also scored two runs. Paige Miller was 1-for-1 and reached base in all of her three at-bats.

Jackson had little problem making Watauga’s early lead stick. She struck out three batters in the first inning, all three batters in the second inning and three more in the third.

Jackson got into trouble in the fourth inning by walking four batters, but also retired the final two batters of the inning to get out of the hook.

MacKenzie Mooney drove in two runs with a single in the third inning and Leah Hasson drove in a run in the fourth with a walk for Morganton.