NEW MARKET — Southmont’s softball team ran into a hard-hitting Riverton Parke team and it turned into a 10-6 loss.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the first and added four in the fifth when the Mounties had gotten the game back to one run.
The win moves RP to 7-6 on the season, while South drops to 8-3.
“Riverton Parke is a great-hitting team,” Mounties coach Dan Taylor said of the Panthers, noting that they were ranked 15th in the Class A preseason poll. “Every hitter was a tough out.”
From the first at-bat, that went nine pitches, to a total of 46 foul balls hit, the visitors came up and went down swinging the bat and guarding the plate.
They wore South starting pitcher Macie Shirk through 123 pitches in only five innings, and just kept at-bat after at-bat going.
“We’ve got a bunch of naturally good hitters,” Panthers coach Sarah Haltom said. “We were more disciplined at the plate tonight, which is what has been happening more all season. We always want to make the other pitcher work and not chase bad or high pitches.”
Haltom, a member of the Riverton Park 2010 Class A state championship team, watched her hitters spray 14 hits around, including four for extra bases. They only left five runners on base, picking up one key hit after another.
The key hit, or lack of one, was a thorn in South’s side.
“We left too many on base,” Taylor noted. “We just didn’t get the big hit with runners in scoring position, like we have many times this season. A hit here or there would have made a big difference in this game. It was really well-played by both teams, and it was a sectional-style atmosphere with good hitting and good pitching. We know we can and will win games like this down the road.”
Kyndale Rice came in to pitch for South in the sixth, and allowed only one hit, but the Mounties had fallen behind farther after the four-run fifth.
That inning was highlighted by Panthers pitcher Jayleigh Inman, who worked into seeing a ninth pitch, fouling off four.
She caught the ninth pitch on the nose and gave it a long ride over the right field fence. Two runners were on board, and with an added run later, RP went from up one to up five. South got a rally started in the seventh, and got one run in, but couldn’t get the last, extra hits.
Inman pitched the distance for the Panthers, throwing 122 pitches of her own. The freshman scattered 13 Mounties hits, walked three and struck out five. “She is such a fun player,” Haltom said of the youngster. “She is a tough out at the plate and tough on the mound.”
Inman would finish with three hits, four RBI and two runs scored. Caeden Bennett also had three hits, three RBI and two runs scored.
South got four runs in the third when Hanna Nichols tripled, Taylor Grino and Shirk both singled and Elizabeth Conkright drove in two with a single. Kami Dinius got the fourth RBI.
Nichols, who singled and scored in the first, reached base three times. Anna Stokes tripled and scored in the seventh. Lillie Odum had three hits.
“We never stopped battling,” Taylor said, “even when we went down four in the first. “We scrimmaged Riverton Parke because we knew they were good, and they are better today than early. It will be interesting to see how far they go in the playoffs. Tonight was just not our night.
The Panthers have a Monday game with Dugger, while the Mounties play Danville in Sagamore Conference action Monday at home and Tuesday at Danville.
