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Banged-up Bengals lose
Patriots cruise past Bengals in 5 innings
Bassett pitcher Whitney Bowers delivers a pitch during a softball game against Patrick Henry on Wednesday in Bassett. Patrick Henry won the game 25-5. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray)
Thursday, March 14, 2013
By DOUG POWELL - Bulletin Sports Writer
Patrick Henry head coach Elizabeth Welshonce and her Patriot softball team came into Wednesday night’s matchup with Bassett looking to face a Bengals team with high expectations and a star pitcher in Taylor Mabry.
What she got, however, was a Bengal team depleted by injuries, and Mabry was scratched from the start.
“I had two people that actually started last year in their normal position today,” Bassett head coach Terry Triplett said, “and every practice we’ve had to move people around, so I mean we’re still struggling to try to figure out who’s going to play where and who’s going to be here next practice.”
The Patriots (1-0) cruised to a 25-5 win over the Bengals (0-1) in five innings at Bassett High School and the lopsided outcome was not expected by Welshonce.
“No, absolutely not,” Welshonce said. “From last year, we remembered the pitcher (Mabry), so we were preparing for a strong pitcher to hit off of. We were a little surprised we didn’t see her on the mound.
Triplett said Mabry’s injury is to her shoulder and he has numerous injuries at other positions as well. A broken hand, injured fingers, and a norovirus infection have stricken his players to begin the season.
“Our pitcher from last year, Taylor Mabry, she had an MRI yesterday,” Triplett said. “We don’t have the results yet. She’s out.
“We’re struggling to put nine players out on the field right now and we got some good people hurt.”
The Patriots separated themselves in the top of the third inning. With the score 8-5 in favor of Patrick Henry, Kenzi Smith hit a double and scored two Patriot runners to increase the lead to 10-5 and begin the avalanche of runs.
Rachel Hole, Carson Arnold, Alexis Cox, and Taylor Clifton all scored runners in the eight-run inning for the Patriots to make the score 19-5 heading into the bottom of the third.
“Walk a few, you make a few errors, a few drops in,” Triplett said. “It’s a snowball effect. We had some chances to get some outs. We just got down.”
Patrick Henry would tack on a run in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth to conclude the game.
“We were real patient at the plate, but still aggressive,” Welshonce said. “We were swinging at good strikes. We played good defense. Everything just seemed to come together.”
Whitney Bowers pitched three innings and took the loss for the Bengals. Alexis Cox also pitched three innings for PHHS and got the win.
“Our main thing is we can’t get down,” Triplett said. “We’ve just got to go back to work and hopefully we can get some of the normal people back to their spots.”
Ashlee Turner, Morgan Dehart, and Bowers all had RBIs for the Patriots. Laura Davis had two ribbies on the evening.
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