Union takes two of three

The Leopards struggled on the pitch and diamond with the Lady Spartans dominating on both fronts. Conversely, Union couldn’t find the strike zone as Lakewood walked a ton in their win.

Baseball

It was a bloodbath on the Union diamond on Tuesday as the Leopards had pulled ahead by 11 before the Spartans first plate appearance of the evening. Lakewood would take the win after three innings, holding Union to two while they plated an astronomical 30 run over the Spartans.

From the outset, Union was in trouble from the first at bat until the final out, the Leopards were able to pull ahead by double digits, scoring 11. In the bottom of the frame, the Spartans were silent and went into the second frame empty handed. Ten runs were scored in the second with eight going to Lakewood and Union grabbing two.

By the third inning, the Leopards eased up as they went into another walk fest, showing class to a team that was clearly struggling. At one point the Union catcher couldn’t keep a low ball inf front and raced back to recover it while a Lakewood player had third stayed there. The game came to a crawl with plenty of walks and the Leopards earned another 11 and Union ended the game with zero runs in the third. Lakewood took their fourth win of the season, 30-2.

Tyler Few led the charge in RBIs for his team with six while Rylan Godbold led in hits with three and trailed Few in RBIs with five. Landon Neal had three stolen bases for the Leopards and Godbold, Ayden Gray and Samuel Johnson all had two a piece.

Lakewood sits at 4-6 with their first conference win on the year, they will cap off their week with a game against the North Duplin Rebels on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Softball

The Lady Spartans took the win handedly over their rivals on the diamond as they faced the Lady Leopards of Lakewood. They took the victory as their bats were on fire that evening, 10-2.

In the first inning, the Leopards struggled to hit off Union’s ace pitcher, Hailey King who made it difficult for the visitors to track down the ball. Caitlyn Bass had a rough go of it in the early goings taking two hits to her body, one that ricocheted off her ankle and another to her abdomen. The last one prompted the coach, Chris Cashwell, and her team to gather around and check on her.

She was able to continue on but Union was able to add to the scoreboard, hitting the gaps and forcing the Leopards to scramble in the infield. By the end of the frame, Union held a four run lead while Lakewood was still looking for their first score. In the second, the Lady Leopards managed to cut in on their deficit but only by a run, leaving them still trailing by three. Union was ignited by a solo homer by King which caused an eruption of cheers by the team as they met her at home and celebrated, putting them back ahead by four at 5-1.

The following three innings, only one run was scored with both teams playing solid defense, keeping the runs to a minimum. The Spartans took their one run and entered the sixth, ahead by five, 6-1. Things went off the rails for the Leopards and Union blew them out with four while Lakewood could only muster one. The game ended with Union taking their first conference win, 10-2.

Hailey King hit for the cycle, leading the team at the plate with four hits and an RBI, while accumulating 13 strikeouts on the mound in their contest against the Leopards. Morgan Smith sped around the bases plenty that evening, snagging seven stolen bases.

Lakewood falls to 1-8 and take their first conference loss. They will be back in action on Thursday, when they face off against a tough conference foe, the North Duplin Lady Rebels (3-1).

Union played Clinton on Wednesday, traveling to the Lady Horses diamond and snagged the win 4-1, to cap off their week of play.

Soccer

The Lady Spartans took Lakewood to task on the pitch, pulling out all the stops and clobbering them up and down to claim the 10-1 victory.

In the first half, the Lady Leopards struggled to get past the physical Union squad while they suffocated them in their zone. By the halftime break, it was 5-1 with the Spartans carrying the advantage. The second half wasn’t much better as they couldn’t seem to get any traction. Adrienne Barbour showed off her skills in the early minutes of the second half, with two goals where the snuck her shots between the keepers legs to propel them ahead 7-1. By the contest’s end, there was no question who was the superior team as Union walked away with the 10-1 win.

Lakewood ends their week, still searching for that elusive win at 0-7 and sitting at 0-1 in conference play.

Union will make their final appearance of the week on Thursday where they will face the Rosewood Lady Eagles (0-9) on the road, seeking their third straight win.