HLV softball remains perfect, 4-0 after victory over Lynnville-Sully

VICTOR — The HLV Warriors remained undefeated after a back-and-forth battle against Lynnville-Sully Wednesday night.

Or it would be more appropriate to call them the HLV-Tri-County softball team this season?

  Buy Photo

The decision to merge the two schools came after Tri-County did not have enough players to yield a roster.

This decision has already reaped its benefits.

“The Tri-County girls have helped us a lot with all four of them starting,” HLV pitcher Hailey Jack said.

Merging schools can be challenging. “Joining two schools you just hope for the best, but we have a great team culture,” HLV Head Coach Grace Parrott said.

The Warriors have also been without one of their top players from last season in Ema Roberts.

Roberts suffered a stress fracture at the end of her successful track season.

“She will be reevaluated in three weeks, but we just want to be careful in not rushing her back,” Ema’s mother, Heather Roberts, said.

The action in this one started right away in the first. Lynnville-Sully’s Jakiera Hay drove in a run on a single and HLV’s Raegan Molyneaux did the same in the bottom of the inning.

Things heated up in the third.

Aaliyah Cooper got things started for the Warriors with an infield single on a successful bunt.

Lily Randall then hit a 2 RBI triple to extend the lead to 5-1 after three innings.

  Buy Photo

Lynnville-Sully responded right away scoring five of their own in the fourth which then began the back and forth that would follow for the rest of the innings to come.

The Hawks connected on multiple RBI hits and capitalized on a few HLV miscues.

Lynnville-Sully added one more in the 5th and HLV’s Molyneaux and Randall both scored off Hawks errors to tie the game headed into the 6th.

An RBI double by Ava Brummel gave the Hawks another lead going into the bottom of the 6th.

The Warriors responded with six runs and capitalized on their opportunities with their aggressive base-running and bunting abilities.

Both Cooper and Addy Shaull laid down bunts with Shaull’s bringing in a run.

Karley Moore with a single to right center field brought in two more runs to make the score 13-8 heading to the 7th.

Lynnville-Sully did not go away without a fight. Three straight hits to the start the inning had the bases loaded with no outs.

The Eagles were able to add one and the game was over after three flyouts.

“I thought we were resilient (all game) in not willing to give up,” Parrott said.

  Buy Photo

The Warriors came into this game scoring a total of 43 runs in their previous games. After last night, it’s 56 runs in four games.

The Warriors are now 4-0 and will look to continue their undefeated season this weekend with matchups against Baxter and Hillcrest Academy at home.

“It feels great and we have a lot of community support,” Jack said on the start of this season.

The one constant through the start of this season for the Warriors has been their pitcher. Hailey Jack, after last night, has pitched a total of 26 innings in four games.

“It’s been easy to pitch all these innings with my teammates always encouraging me,” Jack said.

“Knowing we have a lot of speed and an aggressive offense helps me as well.”

AT VICTOR

Lynnville-Sully 100 511 1 9 11 9

HLV 104 026 0 13 6 5