Lady Vols use 20-hit effort for road win
WEST POINT – Starkville Academy softball coach Thomas Berkery can appreciate what a good offense can do for a ball club.
During his time at Mississippi State, Berkery was pretty good at hitting the baseball and contributing offensively during his time as a Bulldog.
Berkery was impressed with what he saw out of the Lady Volunteers on Friday at Oak Hill.
Starkville Academy used 20 hits to score 16 runs and defeated the Lady Raiders 16-5 in five innings.
“These girls are showing me something,” Berkery said. “Every one of them are putting together solid at-bats.”
The Lady Vols jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Carolyn Montgomery singled, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, stole third base and came home on a single by Arden Parker.
Berkery said Montgomery, who had a double and three singles in the game, gives Starkville Academy a boost on offense with her running ability.
“Her aggressiveness kind of sets the tone on the base paths,” Berkery said.
After Oak Hill tied the game in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by Sydney Pierce, the Lady Vols regained the advantage with four runs in the third inning. The big blow in the frame was an RBI double by Parker and was a part of three-straight hits for Starkville Academy.
The Lady Raiders cut the margin to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the third, but the Lady Vols broke the game open with six runs on eight hits in the fourth inning and five more runs on three hits in the fifth.
Oak Hill got two runs back in the fifth inning, but it was not enough to prevent the run-rule to end the game.
It was a five-hit game for the Lady Raiders and Pierce had two of them with a single and a double.
Oak Hill head coach Mitch Bohon didn't have an issue with the offense, but the defense left much to be desired.
“Defensively, we kind of hit a little lull,” Bohon said. “We're struggling defensively. Offensively, we're OK and barreled a lot of balls up. We didn't strike out any. We hit some balls right at them. They hit some balls that found a hole.”
The Lady Raiders saw their record slip to 2-2, while the Starkville Academy improved to 2-0. The Lady Vols defeated Kemper Academy 8-7 Tuesday.
“You can't win them all until you win the first two,” Berkery said.
Parker had a single and a double for Starkville Academy, while Bailey Carper and Hannah Carper had three singles each. Sarah Montgomery, Paisley Lollota and Arlee Oswalt added two singles each.
As much as Berkery liked the offensive production, he praised the defensive effort as well.
“We've got so many girls playing out of position, it's amazing the plays they are making,” Berkery said. “I'm proud of them. We've been working The Lady Vols play at hard. All the credit to them. Kemper Academy on August They are making the plays.” 12.