Surging Greenwood tops Alma

5A-WEST SOFTBALL

GREENWOOD 5, ALMA 4

GREENWOOD — Make it nine wins in a row for the surging Greenwood softball team.

The Lady Bulldogs have flipped the switch in the second half of the season and the success didn’t stop Tuesday. Greenwood held off a late rally from Alma to win 5-4 in the first game of a 5A-West conference doubleheader.

“When we are playing defense, we are playing our best,” Greenwood coach Ronnie Sockey said. “Our pitching has been good with two sophomores. They have been keeping us in it, and we are finding ways to score runs.”

Greenwood ( 14-7, 8- 3) secured the win with Haley McAdams in the circle. She allowed seven hits, two walks, four runs and got seven strikeouts. With runners on first and second and two outs, McAdams remained calm and got the key final out.

“I want to stay calm and keep my rhythm going because sometimes I get ahead of myself and go too fast,” McAdams said. “I had to breath a little bit because I was getting stressed. But I trust my defense and told myself we are getting this final out. It all worked out great.”

McAdams was backed with plenty of offense and stout defense behind her early. Charlize Taylor hit a two-run home run to take a 2-0 lead for Greenwood in the first inning. Taylor picked up her third RBI in the third inning for a 3-0 lead driving home Madison Cartwright again.

Taylor Nichols extended Greenwood’s lead to 4-0 with an RBI hit in the fourth before the Lady Bulldogs took a 5-0 edge off a home run from Cartwright in the fifth inning. That turned out to be the difference in the game with Alma (14-7, 7-4) rallying late.

“I knew we were up, but we needed to add to the lead,” Cartwright said. “They are a good team I knew they’d start hitting. We needed as many runs as we could as fast as we could.”

McAdams cruised for Greenwood through five innings allowing just a hit and a walk. Alma found its offense in the sixth inning, using a five-hit, four-run frame. That cut Greenwood’s lead to 5-4.

Julia Nutt had a two-run double while Jada Wallis and Jocelyn Harless also picked up RBI in the come-from-behind attempt. Makenzie Martin, Taelynn Perry and Nutt all scored.

“I told them it just takes one inning to take care of things,” Alma coach Charla Parrish said. “But with good teams, you can’t be down 5-0. They still came back and had an opportunity with runners on base. Sometimes it happens when a good hitter gets out.”

Entering the game, Alma and Greenwood were tied in second place in the 5A-West. But the Lady Bulldogs have that spot to themselves now. It has been a reloading year for Greenwood, which had to replace eight spots from its state-runner up team from a season ago.

“We are finally putting kids in the right spot and finding ways to win,” Sockey said. “Our pitching has been good. A lot of kids are contributing, which is good. We will need that to make another run this season.”