LANDRUM – The first inning of Polk County’s softball game at Landrum on Wednesday was a sign of things to come.
The Wolverines strung three straight baserunners in the top of the inning, but missed a chance to score when Emma Hayford scorched a liner that the Cardinals’ third baseman took away with a great stab. In the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals scored twice on just one hit as a stolen base, a passed ball and a wild pitch did a lot of the damage.
That’s largely how it went all night. The Wolverines struggled to string hits together, and Landrum took advantage of a couple of defensive miscues as the Cardinals took a 12-2 win in the intra-state rivalry.
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“Sometimes once that starts, it spreads like wildfire,” Polk County coach Phillip Miller said of the Wolverines’ struggles in the field. “At the plate, it was really like our whole season. We get people on, but we just can’t string together the hits we need.”
The Wolverines’ runs both came in the top of the third, the only inning where they were able to find some sustained success. Tory Colie reached on an error, advanced on Junie Mitchell’s fielder’s choice, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Hayford then drove in Lucy Tessnair for Polk County’s lone RBI, cutting Landrum’s lead to 6-2 at the time.
The Cardinals scored multiple runs in the first, second and fifth innings, adding single runs in the third, fourth and sixth frames. Ashton Chapman reached four times and scored four runs, including the score in the bottom of the sixth that invoked the run-rule. Rylan Lindsey drove in a pair of runs, Presley Burke knocked in three, and Sierra Crew was 3-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and three runs scored for Landrum.
Colie, Mitchell and Tessnair all reached base twice for Polk County.
The Wolverines showed plenty of fight, playing their best defense when the Cardinals had a chance to close it out, denying the hosts the chance at a mercy-rule win in the fifth.
“At times we played good defense,” Miller said. “We were right in it, and then we’d fall apart and give up a bunch of runs. Even though we have a few upperclassmen playing, our kids are young. We’ve just got to grow up a little bit and get better. That’s been our theme all week. We’ve just got to get a little bit better each day.”
