Austyn Moran continued her impressive pitching last Friday evening in cold, blustery Springwood, leading the host Knights to a hard-fought 4-0 softball victory over Parry McCluer. Moran threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and only one walk and she now has five shutouts on the young season.
Blues pitcher Katie Claytor kept the home team off balance most of the evening and her defense played well making scoring difficult. Claytor struck out the side in the third inning, the last two with the bases loaded, thwarting a huge James River threat.
In the bottom of fourth, in a scoreless game, Moran drew a walk to lead off and was replaced by courtesy runner Makayla Petty. Kaycee Kincaid followed with a single. With one out, Cloey Joynes singled to score Petty with the game’s first run. Later, Karlee Eubank, who reached on a fielders’ choice, scored on a passed ball. James River once again left the bases loaded.
The Knights picked up an insurance run in the fifth inning when Elly Lackey bunted for a hit and later scored on a Joynes sacrifice fly. In the sixth, River manufactured the final run after Jenna Pugh reached on an error, then stole second and third base. Lexi McCullough then hit a sacrifice fly to complete the scoring.
Kincaid and Joynes had two hits apiece and Pugh, Lackey, and Moran had one hit each. Olivia Julian (single) and Laura Wade (triple) had the two hits for the Blues.
“Parry McCluer is a traditionally good softball program with another solid team,” said River coach Steve Austin. “They really just got their season started this week after their basketball run so they will only get better and better. We had to work really hard to win this game and that is a good thing. We have some very tough opponents ahead even before we get into the grind of the Three Rivers District and we will have to earn anything we get.”
James River is now 6-0 on the season in the non-district portion of their schedule, including a 15-0 shutout of Rockbridge in a five-inning game on March 29. The Knights were scheduled to play at Lord Botetourt on Tuesday and this Friday they host Salem in Springwood.
