BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Mackenzie Orton hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth that proved to be the difference in the Union County High School softball team’s 5-4 win over visiting Bradford on April 1.
Orton and Mia Kent each drove in two runs for the Class 1A Tigers, who won their second straight game.
Union held a 4-0 lead for three innings before the Class 3A Tornadoes (3-10) scored two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings and threatened to score in the top of the seventh when Keegan Yowell hit a leadoff single. Yowell, who was on second with one out after Madison Highland’s sacrifice bunt, made her way to third base on a fly out by Addyson Hinds, but she stumbled over the base. She was put out when third baseman Emma Handley (after receiving a throw from right fielder Skyler Moates) tagged her while she was still off the bag, ending the game.
Union scored four runs in the first, which began with a Handley single. A sacrifice bunt by Leanne Dicks and a sacrifice fly by Orton moved Handley around and brought her home for the first run.
The inning continued, with Shyla Crowe and Campbell Webb both walking and Brooke Hunt getting hit by a pitch. A Kent single allowed courtesy runners Brooke Burgess and Michael-Ann Smith to score. Hunt would later come around and score on a Jaydin Alvarez single.
The score remained 4-0 until the top of the fourth. Bradford had Yowell, who singled, and Hinds, who doubled, on base with one out Kallie Yowell drove in a run on a ground ball and reached safely on an error. Hinds scored on an Amber Wynn single to make it a 4-2 game.
Handley drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Handley advanced to second on Dicks’ sacrifice bunt and scored on Orton’s double.
Bradford made it a one-run game in the fifth. Rylie Blankenship hit a leadoff triple and scored one out later on Keegan Yowell’s double. Yowell moved to third on Highland’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a Hinds single.
Handley was the only Union batter with multiple hits, going 2 for 3.
Crowe pitched a complete game for the Tigers, giving up nine hits and no walks.
Keegan Yowell went 3 for 4 to lead the Bradford batters. Blankenship and Hinds each went 2 for 4.
Blankenship pitched five innings of relief, allowing one run, five hits and two walks.
Union travels to play Class 3A Eastside on Tuesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. and will travel to play Class 1A Hawthorne on Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m. The Tigers return home to play Class 3A Crescent City on Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m.
Bradford travels to play Class 1A Hilliard on Wednesday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. and will travel to play Class 3A Bolles on Friday, April 5, at 5:30 p.m. The Tornadoes then play Class 6A Buchholz on the road on Monday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. before returning home to play Class 5A Gainesville on Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m.
