The Independence Lady Patriots won their first round game against the Hough Huskies from Cornelius, North Carolina 12-1 in a five inning contest in the 4A State Playoffs.
Hough took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, however, it was all the runs they would score in the lopsided victory. In the third inning the Patriots took the lead when they pushed 3 runs across the plate on timely hitting and a few miscues on the field. Then they poured it on in the fourth inning scoring 9 runs on multiple hits, including extra base hits along with walks and errors committed on the field by the Huskies.
Jaylin Adkins went 3-3 with a base hit, double and home run with 3 RBI’s. Abrianna Berry went 3-4 with a single, double and an RBI, Mallory Shaver went 2-4 with a single and home run and 4 RBI’s offensively. Collectively the team hammered out 10 hits. Meanwhile, Kayla Douglas who has been a workhorse for the Patriots all season scattered 7 hits, while allowing only 1 run on 2 strikeouts for the win.
In the second round the Patriots ran up against an excellent opponent when they took on the 4th ranked team in the state, the 1 seed in their bracket, and the 141st nationally ranked club in the country the Richmond Raiders.
The Raiders are 23-3 overall, and 14-0 in their Class 4A Conference. This game ended with a 12-2 loss for the Patriots who could not hold off this exceptionally balanced and hard hitting team. Richmond senior Owen Bowers did the most damage going 3-4, hitting two home runs with 6 RBI’s. Kayla Douglas gave up 3 home runs, 6 earned runs, with 7 strikeouts in the contest. While Richmond slammed 15 hits off Patriot pitching which includes Jaylin Adkins who went 2 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 7 hits. Kingsley Reardon went 1-3 with 2 RBI’s on a double to score the Patriots only runs.
The Patriots leaders for this season include Abrianna Berry .437 batting average on 31 hits, OPS 1.129, Brianna Grant 30 RBI’s, 2 home runs, 2 triples and 9 doubles, Jaylin Adkins 4 home runs, Anna Easter 9 doubles, and Kayla Douglas had a 9-5 season with a 3.79 ERA, 88.2 innings, 99 strikeouts, 43 base on balls, allowing 104 hits.
The team ended the season with a solid 15-9 overall record, and were 8-6 in the Southwestern 4A Conference.
