Cox Pitches Shutout as Lady Bulldogs Down Oliver Springs 5-0
By Terry Futrell
Backed up by the strong fielding of her teammates, Wartburg’s Madelyn “Bit” Cox pitched a shutout against Oliver Springs in the losers bracket of the District 3-A softball tournament Thursday evening. While Cox gave up ten hits, she walked only one batter and not one Oliver Springs Lady Cat reached home plate. Much credit goes to Cox’s Lady Bulldog teammates who committed no errors and recorded a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000. Oliver Springs pitchers gave up only eight hits to Wartburg, but walked three batters. The Lady Cats committed four errors and had a fielding percentage of 0.815.
Both teams struggled for the first two innings, with neither able to sustain an attack. Lady Bulldog Allie Aytes hit a line drive to left in the first inning. Both Ella Hampton and Desirae Davis had singles in the first inning for Oliver Springs. Shelby Hileman tacked on another single for the Lady Cats in the second inning but was left stranded on base.
The Lady Bulldogs began to assert themselves in the top of the third inning. Maelee Hamby led off with a single on a line drive to left field. Alexis Harrison was hit by a pitch, advancing Hamby to second base. Allie Aytes grounded out, but both Hamby and Harrison advanced. Taylin Griffith drove a hard ground ball to left field, scoring Hamby and advancing Harrison to third. Harrison scored on an error by the Oliver Springs pitcher before the inning ended with Wartburg leading 2-0.
Wartburg managed to get four runners on base in the top of the fourth. Sydney Aytes led off with a walk, followed by consecutive singles by Cynthia Susak and CayCay Johnson, scoring Aytes. Maelee Hamby reached base on an error by the Lady Cats, also scoring Susak. The Oliver Springs defense toughened and three Wartburg batters went down in order. The Lady Bulldogs led 4-0 midway through the fourth inning.
Oliver Springs came charging back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Breanna Broadus doubled on a long fly ball to left field. Shelby Hileman then doubled on a line drive to center field. Alexis Harrison made a perfect throw to home plate and Broadus was tagged out at the plate. Hileman was left stranded on base as the inning closed with Wartburg leading 4-0.
Wartburg tacked on one more run in the top of the fifth inning. Mikaela Smith was hit by a pitch, and then advanced to second on a single by Sydney Aytes. Smith scored on an error by the first baseman. Oliver Springs responded with singles by Ella Hampton and Desirae Davis in the bottom of the fifth, but both were left stranded when Taylor Jones grounded out to third baseman Allie Aytes. Wartburg led 5-0 after five innings.
Both teams managed scattered singles in the sixth and seventh innings, but there was no additional scoring.
Wartburg advanced to meet Coalfield on Friday for the opportunity to once again play Harriman and to secure a spot in regional competition. The loss ended the season for Oliver Springs.
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