BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Every player in the starting lineup drove in at least one run in the Union County High School softball team’s 15-2, five-inning win over host Hawthorne on April 5.
It was the fourth straight win for the Tigers, who improved to 8-7.
Union led 4-2 before scoring 11 runs in the fifth, which consisted of eight hits and five errors. Brooke Hunt and Mia Kent both singled, with Hunt scoring on an error. After a Jaydin Alvarez single, Jailyn Simmons reached on an error, which allowed a run to score. Emma Handley then drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, while Leanne Dicks drove in another on a single.
The inning continued with Mackenzie Orton walking and Shyla Crowe hitting a single to load the bases. Campbell Webb reached on an error, which allowed a run to score. Hunt came back up to bat and hit an RBI single, while Kent reached on an error that brought another run in. Alvarez hit a single, with an error on the play scoring a run.
Handley, who 2 for 3 with three RBI, ended the scoring with a two-run triple.
Dicks finished 3 for 4 with two RBI, while Alvarez, Crowe and Hunt each went 2 for 4 with one RBI.
Crowe pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and one walk, while striking out four.
The Tigers entered the game off a 19-0, three-inning win over host Eastside on April 2.
A 13-run first inning included Kent batting twice and driving in two runs on a pair of singles. Handley drove in two runs on a single, while Crowe and Orton each had an RBI double. Dicks and Webb each hit an RBI single.
Crowe, who went 2 for 3, finished with two doubles and three RBI. Three players had two RBI: Kent, who went 2 for 2, Handley, Simmons and Makenzie Radford.
Dicks went 4 for 4 with one RBI.
The following also had one RBI each: Alvarez, Orton and Webb.
Three players pitched one inning each in allowing no hits: Skyler Moates, Radford and Dicks.
Union hosts Crescent City on Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m. and will travel to play Bradford on Thursday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers host Buchholz on Friday, April 12, at 7 p.m.
