Women’s Softball Bound for Region X Tourney
On Thursday, May 9, the Women’s Softball team will begin play in the Region X tournament, entering the nine-team bracket as the No. 8 seed in the team’s inaugural season. Springwood Park in Burlington, N.C., is the host site for the tournament, which is scheduled to conclude Saturday, May 11.
Fayetteville Tech (10-24, 6-14) will open play at 10 a.m. against No. 9 Patrick Henry Community College (9-25, 5-13) The Trojans swept a double header against Patrick Henry on March 10, topping the Patriots 15-13 and 9-7 in the pair’s only meetings of the season.
Weekend Recap: Women’s Softball
The Trojans will look to bounce back from a disappointing weekend series in which they dropped a three-game home series to Surry Community College. The Knights spoiled a sound defensive effort by the Trojans, who went he entire series without committing an error.
Friday’s game, a 4-1 final, featured a particularly strong performance by the Trojan fielders, who recorded all 21 outs in the field behind a complete-game outing by pitcher Ashley Loftin. Taylor Brown tallied the Trojans’ run, scoring from first base on a double by Ashlee Naylor in the bottom of the first. Brown went 2-for-4 on the day, and Naylor went 1-for-3.
Power hitting turned out to be the difference for the Knights, who hit a two-run home run in the first and a solo shot in the third to stay out of reach.
Games 2 and 3 in the series were played Saturday, and the Trojans’ bats were hot in the early game, a 12-hit, seven-run showing from lineup. Hayden Smith, Ashlee Naylor, Taylor Brown, and Katelyn Naylor each recorded doubles, and Grayson Lewis notched her second triple of the season.
The Trojans posted a three-run third inning and tacked on runs in the fourth and fifth to hold a 6-5 lead going at the end of five.
The Knights broke it open in the sixth inning, hanging five runs on the board en route to a 12-7 win.
On the tail-end of the day’s double header, Lewis was once again a standout at the plate, driving in Ashlee Naylor with a triple in the fourth inning. Danielle Gray added another Trojan run in the fifth, scoring on a single by Ashley Loftin.
But the Knights’ stretched a two-run lead into a 7-2 final with a three-run seventh inning for the win.
Weekend Recap: Men’s Baseball
The Men’s Baseball team ended its inaugural season Friday in a pitchers’ duel at Catawba Valley Community College, the second-place team in the Region X Division II standings.
The Trojans and Red Hawks played eight-and-a-half scoreless innings before the Red Hawks won on a walk-off wall issue with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
Fayetteville Tech starting pitcher Tamiris Palmer threw seven innings, and held the Red Hawks to two hits while striking out four and issuing four walks before yielding to reliever Johnnie Lowery in the eighth inning.
The Trojans threatened in the top of the ninth when third baseman Jamison Cummings hit a one-out double, but he was ultimately stranded at second.
Fayetteville Tech caps the season with a 3-21 overall record and a 5-25 mark in the Region X Division II standings.
Boasting plenty of youth, the Trojans will lose just three sophomores int he offseason and have already added four signees for the 2019-20 campaign.
Signing in April were left-handed pitcher Marcus Johnson of St. Pauls, right-handed pitchers Nick Berhalter of Imagine School at North Port (Florida) and Hunter Johnson of Freedom Christian, and infielder Ian Clements of Jack C. Hays in Austin, Texas.