BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Five batters drove in multiple runs, while pitcher Kadence Massey allowed just two hits as the Keystone Heights High School softball team defeated visiting Ridgeview 12-1 in five innings on Feb. 26.
Amber Wagner hit a walk-off two-run homer that enacted the mercy rule and was one of two players who went deep for the Class 3A Indians (2-1), who have played nothing but bigger schools to open the season. Keystone split a pair of games against 6A schools Oakleaf and Tocoi Creek. Ridgeview is a 5A school.
All three opponents were playoff qualifiers last year.
Ridgeview’s Hannah Crosby hit a single in the top of the first, but that would be the only hit the Panthers (0-1) would get off Massey until Haylee McCrea hit a solo homer in the fifth. Massey struck out six and gave up no walks.
The Indians scored three runs in the first inning. Ashley Nugent, who went 2 for 3, hit a triple to score Alaina Kinsall, who hit a leadoff single. Abbie Roach, who also went 2 for 3, hit a double to bring Nugent home, while Massey, who went 3 for 3, hit single to score Roach.
A five-run third inning featured an RBI triple by Roach to get the scoring started. Massey brought Roach home with a single before Riley Shuford, with two runners on, hit a triple. An error on a fly ball hit by Kinsall allowed Shuford to score and put Keystone up 8-0.
Nugent led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run. The Indians would push another run across on an RBI single by Massey.
Wagner’s two-run homer in the fifth was Keystone’s sixth extra-base hit.
The Indians host 5A Clay on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. and will travel to play Providence (a 2A regional finalist last season) on Friday, March 1, at 6 p.m. Keystone then travels to play fellow 3A school Palatka on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m.
