Clinton’s Zoe Morrisey tries to cut off a line drive in the gap.
Courtesy of Mike Carter
Midway undefeated in conference; shuts out Lady Horses 15-0
Lady Raider, Karabeth Benton slides safely under the tag of Third baseman Laila Carter during 5th inning action.
Courtesy of Mike Carter
Clinton second baseman, Da’Niyah Coxum, flips the ball to a waiting Niah Torres, 9, forcing out Midway’s McKenzie Williams.
Courtesy of Mike Carter
The Midway Lady Raiders traveled to take on county rival Clinton on Tuesday night as they resume their march in the Southeastern Athletic Conference. So far, the Lady Raiders have gone largely unopposed in conference play and that theme continued against the Lady Dark Horses as Midway triumphed in a 15-0 blowout.
Clinton looked poised to retire Lady Raiders in order in the first inning, forcing a groundout and a pop out against the first two batters. After that, though, Midway turned on a 2-out rally and generated three runs. It all got started when Kyleigh Stonerock plastered a home run over the left field fence, quickly putting the Lady Raiders out front at 1-0. Jordan Christopher followed up with a single and McKenzie Williams hit a double as things kept rolling for the visitors. Eva McLamb produced an error for the Lady Dark Horses, which scored Christopher and Williams for a 3-0 Midway lead.
The Lady Dark Horses finally got out of the jam on a groundout back to first base, but they went down in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom of the first, quickly putting the bats right back into the hands of the Lady Raiders.
In the top of the second, Midway picked right back up from where they left off. Sarah Autry led the inning off with a walk and bunt by Tamia Gwynn allowed both runners to be safe and Autry to move over to third. Kiley Ives laid down a sacrifice to score Autry, making it 4-0. Gwynn later took home on what was credited as a steal and the Lady Raiders led 5-0 after two innings.
Another 1-2-3 defensive effort for Midway again quickly moved things to the top of the third where the Lady Raiders added to their lead.
Williams led things off with an infield pop up that hit the ground and scored a triple by Eva McLamb. McLamb was scored on a double by Mollie Bass and was scored after Veronica Tart helped produce an error from the Lady Horses and advanced all the way over to third. She was scored on another infield pop up by Autry who was scored two batters later by Gwynn. After the parade of runs, Midway took a 10-0 lead headed to the bottom of the third.
There, Clinton managed to get one runner aboard thanks to a walk, but that’s all that happened as things moved to the fourth.
Over the next two innings, the Lady Raiders went on to build their lead to 15-0 and the game ended in the bottom of the fifth with a Midway victory.
Offensive leaders for Midway were Stonerock, Gwynn, McLamb, and Williams all with two hits. Ives, Bass, Karabeth Benton, Christopher, Tart, Autry, Ella Clark, and Peyton Herring all had one hit for the Lady Raiders, who tallied 15 hits on the game. Clinton was held hitless on the game by Stonerock, who totaled 12 strikeouts against two walks.
With the win, Midway was now 11-2 overall and 6-0 in conference play. Clinton dropped to 5-9 overall and 1-3 in league play.
See Saturday’s edition for the second round of softball between these conference foes.
Reach Anthony McConnaughey at [email protected], X @SampsonSports or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page