WEB CAST.
It's built as the premiere softball rivalry in the area, as it always is when Garner and West Johnston get together on the softball field and again on Tuesday night, the game lived up to the hype as Garner slid past West Johnston 2-1 in the season opener for the Lady Trojans.
Garner gave the ball to true Freshman, Christina Gower who was making her debut in a Lady Trojan uniform against the contemptuous rival from Benson and in the opening frame, Gower was sharp getting West to go in order and also getting two strikeouts in the first.
West Johnston's Lexi Betancourt was equally as dominate as she took to the center circle for the Wildcats, however, Betancourt's delivery home became the focal point of the game as she was called for four illegal pitches because her back foot was not constantly in contact with the pitching rubber.
Despite the pitching controversy, West Johnston had a 1-0 lead after four compete innings as the Wildcats played some small ball to jump ahead in the fourth as Kristen Partin singled to lead off the fourth and after a sacrifice bunt moved her to second, Marisa Hackney singled to left to plate Partin and give West the 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless top of the fifth, Garner was running out of chances to score, but that's when the Lady Trojan experience blended with some youth to put runs on the board. Freshman Maddi Stewart started the fifth inning with a bloop single over the head of the Wildcat third basemen to put the lead off hitter on base.
Following a Gower strikeout, Mary Scott Powell tried to bung Stewart over to second and she appeared to stakeout, but caught a break when Betancourt was called for her fourth illegal pitch which allowed Powell to single two pitches later and put runners at corners with only one out for Raven Smith.
Smith fell behind in the count 0-2 and battled back to work the count even at 2-2 before lacing a single to right center field and plate two runs to give Garner the 2-1 lead.
The score would remain the same going to the top of the seventh when West Johnston had their last call. Marisa Hackney led off the inning by drawing a walk and later advanced to second and third on wild pitches.
With Hackney standing on third base, Betancourt struck out swinging on three pitches. So, with one out, and a runner at third base, Ashley Carroll made THE play of the night.
On a 3-2 count, Amber West fouled off pitch after pitch and on the 11th pitch of the at bat, West, sent a shot down to third base where Carroll picked up the ground ball and saw Hackeny too far off the base and tagged her out for a huge second out of the inning.
The last West hope was Danielle Meyers who fouled out to Meghan Strickland at first to end the game.
Garner (1-0, 1-0) will be back in action on Thursday night when they host Millbrook at 6:00.
Winning Pitcher: Christina Gower - 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K
Losing Pitcher: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 6 BB, 10 K
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Varsity Baseball Picks up First Win
After losing their first three games on the season, the Varsity baseball was in desperate need of a win as they hosted West Johnston in the conference opener on Tuesday night at Trojan Park.
Garner gave the ball to their senior ace, Jacob Baker who responded to strikeout 13 Wildcats batters and give up just one un-earned run as Garner powered past West 4-1.
The Wildcats got their run in the top of the first off as a throwing error extended the inning to allow a run to score.
But, the Trojans did not go away as they put up three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the 3-1 lead and just for good measure, in the sixth, CJ Schmidt hit his first home run of the year, a solo shot to right center to give Garner a 4-1 win.
The Trojans (1-3, 1-0) will be back in action on Friday night as they travel to Clayton for a 7:00 first pitch.
