Jeff Linville | The News
North Surry’s Marlee Bunker pitched all eight innings for the win Friday night. She allowed just one run.
Jeff Linville | The News
North’s Taylor Hill is hit by a pitch in the first inning. She would come around to score the first run of the game. Then she would drive in the last run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Lady Greyhounds pulled out a 2-1 softball win Friday night over West Stokes.
Marlee Bunker pitched a fine game, and Taylor Hill and Bailey Culler were involved in some of the biggest plays of the night.
North Surry showed off a stellar defense, making several key plays in the field.
The Lady Wildcats helped North out with a couple of costly errors, contributing to both runs.
In the top of the first, West Stokes got a runner to third base with just one out.
The batter hit a grounder to the right side. Second baseman Culler scooped up the ball and fired a strike to home for the out to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the first, Hill was hit by a pitch with one out.
Culler dropped a sacrifice bunt right in front of the plate. Hill never slowed down and rounded second as the catcher got Culler out at first. Hill slid in to beat the relay to third.
Then she scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.
West Stokes tied the score a couple of innings later, then the teams remained tied through the rest of regulation.
In the top of the seventh, West Stokes threatened to win the game.
A runner reached second with only one out.
Bunker induced a grounder to second. Culler fired the ball to first, then Allison Woodbury relayed the ball to Hannah Goins at third for the tag to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Bunker drew a leadoff walk. One out later, Hayley Tickle hit a line drive to right. The outfielder caught the ball, then threw to first to double off Bunker’s courtesy runner.
In the eighth inning, West Stokes hit a fly ball to shallow center. Hill caught the ball running forward and held on as she tumbled to the ground.
Bunker walked the next batter, but a ground ball up the middle was picked up by Molly Martin at short, who stepped on the bag and threw to first for another inning-ending double play.
In the final at-bat, Claire Montgomery battled from a 1-2 hole to draw a walk.
Coach Willie Hodges brought in a pinch runner, who strayed a little too far off the bag as Martin attempted a sacrifice bunt.
The pitch was too low for Martin to hit, but the catcher came up firing a throw to first.
The first baseman couldn’t handle the throw, and the runner scampered to second.
The pitcher then moved the runner to third with a wild pitch.
Martin popped out to first base, bringing up Hill.
She hammered a deep fly ball to right that easily would have brought in the runner on a sacrifice fly. However, the rightfielder dropped the ball for an error.
Either way, the Hounds won 2-1.
After losing their first game of the season, the Hounds have won four straight games, including three in the Northwest Conference.
On Monday, the Hounds host West Wilkes. Then they are off until Friday when they travel to East Surry.
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