Veterans SS power display leads to win against Bears

There was a power surge felt Tuesday at the Veterans High softball field. It didn’t cut the scoreboard off, but instead made it light up with big red numbers for the home Warhawks.

The main power was supplied by shortstop Melissa Cox. After missing a significant portion of the 2012 season to injury, Cox belted both a three-run home run and an RBI double in Veterans’ 10-2 six-inning rout of Houston County High.

The game marked the opening of the 2013 fall season for both clubs. For the second time in a row, the two new city rivals faced each other in the first week of play, and in 2012 it was the Bears winning in a runaway on their campus field.

So for the Warhawks and coach Mitch Horton, Tuesday represented payback of sorts as both teams fielded basically the same lineups with little exceptions. Left-handed sophomore Avery Lamb started as Horton’s pitcher and pitched all six innings.

Not only was Cox swinging the bat with powerful results, senior Kaylee Albritton – starting at third base – had three singles in three at-bats with one walk and centerfielder Payton Stallworth had three hits. Cox’ RBI total was five with a bases-loaded walk thrown in to her line.

Pacing the Houston County offense was third baseman Hayley Tierce with a solo home run and a double.

The game had all the markings of a pitcher’s dual, but things got away from the visiting Bears in the bottom half of the second inning. The first three Warhawks reached base with Albritton walking, Ashley Killebrew singling and Stallworth’s hit plating the first run.

Cox, in Horton’s No. 7 position, was trying to get down a sacrifice bunt, and with foul balls she was down in her count two strikes. She kept the at-bat alive, and swinging away the outcome was much better for Horton, a three-run home run to left.

Veterans grinded out two more runs in the bottom of the third. It started with one out as Albritton flared a ball that landed inside the line in right field. Taylor Brown, Houston’s centerfield, snagged a low liner from Killebrew for the second out.

Albritton stole second base, and Stallworth put the ball in play on the ground. As she beat out the throw to first base, Albritton kept running home and gave Veterans a fifth run. Stallworth advanced to second on the play, and Cox drilled a double to the left-field corner for a 6-0 advantage.

Things could have been worse for the Bears as two walks filled the bases. Autumn Ring, a new varsity starter in right field, ran down Lamb’s drive to end it.

Tierce put Houston on the board leading off the top of the fourth with her home run. It was her second hit and only the third overall against Lamb up to that point. For the game, Lamb struck out nine.

In Veterans’ half of the fourth, three runs came in on five hits. Sierra Stella, Katelyn Winner and Albritton singled back-to-back-to-back, Albritton gaining an RBI. Stallworth’s third hit filled the bags, and Cox drew a walk (8-1). Lindsey Cauley, the right fielder, got into the hitting act with an RBI single.

The Warhawks were one out away from ended things in five, but Kelly Warner’s RBI double erased the eight-run lead. Tierce had two good force plays at third base in the bottom half after Stella and Albritton singled.

On the defensive side, Cox turned a double play on a slap ball hit by Ring in the top of the third. In the top of the sixth, the catcher Winner and second baseman Stella made running catches of foul balls around singles by Brown and Carson Carriker.

Cauley’s double, bringing home Cox, ended the game by the eight-run rule in Veterans’ sixth.

The Warhawks made more offensive noise Wednesday at home, but none of it ended up counting as the non-region game with Northside was called off due to rain in the bottom of the second inning. The score showed 8-0, half of that accounted for from an Albritton grand slam.

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