Blue Devils complete sweep of Stone to advance in fast pitch playoffs
Carriere--Pearl River Central completed a sweep of their series with Stone on Tuesday with an 8-3 win at the PRC Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon. The win allows the Blue Devils to move to the next round against Wayne County on Friday in Carriere. Wayne County swept Long Beach in their series.
PRC scored two runs in the bottom of the first. Jayden Davis was hit by a pitch and Brienne Penton’s bunt was fielded by the third baseman, but the throw sailed past first base allowing Davis to score and putting Penton on second base. One out later, a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Madi Glidewell moved Penton to third base with two outs and Izzy Martin doubled to left center to bring in Penton for a 2-0 lead.
Stone scored a run in the third and PRC answered that with a run on Taylor Kauzlarich’s double that plated Izzy Martin who had reached base with two outs after being hit by a pitch. PRC pushed the lead to 4-2 in the fourth when Davis singled, stole second and third base, and scored on a ground ball off the bat of Glidewell that was mishandled by the Stone second baseman.
Photo by Carey Meitzler
Izzy Martin drove this pitch over the left field fence for a home run.
The Blue Devils extended the lead in fifth on back to back home runs by Martin (her 3rd of the year) and Payton Lee (her 9th of the year and 40th RBI). Stone had intentionally walked Lee on her two previous at bats.
Up 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth, PRC added two more runs on an RBI double by Keigan Pearson and an RBI single by Martin.
Photo by Carey Meitzler
In the meantime, freshman Madison Smith (pictured) mesmerized the Stone batters for the second day in a row. Smith worked into the seventh innings with two outs and she gave way to 7th grader Jazmin Robertson who came on to get the last out on a ground ball to first base.
Head Coach Tony Labella was overall pleased with his team’s performance.
“She (Madison Smith) did a great job for a freshman to step up for us. Both of these games were pressure situations. We still have to clean up a bunch of things, but we did some good things. Our hitting is carrying us right now, but we have to get better on defense, ” Labella said.
The Blue Devils move their record to 19-10 on the year with the win.
