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Western Alamance juniors Payton Rainey, front, and Jillian Brunton stand on a dugout bench to cheer on their teammates against Oak Grove on Wednesday night.
Western Alamance warms up before Wednesday night's game against Oak Grove.
Times-News
Luke Johnson For The Times-News
ELON — Losses can come with lessons to be learned by the team on the short end of the final score.
Often those lessons require a look in the mirror at what the team didn’t do well enough on that occasion.
While that was true for the Western Alamance softball team Wednesday night, Warriors coach Scott Bell hopes just as much can be gained by looking across the field into the opposing dugout and understanding what the opponent did to win the game.
Once that understanding has been reached, it’s about the Warriors applying it to their own game moving forward.
In their pitching prowess, these teams mirrored one another, but it was Oak Grove’s ability to make adjustments to facing that pitching — and Western Alamance's inability to do similar — that helped it claim a 1-0 victory against the Warriors in a non-conference battle.
“They made a couple of adjustments and got a couple of key hits that got them that run in, and that’s going to happen against good teams. They're going to do that,” Bell said. “To get up to another level, we’ve got to become that team, too. We've got to make those adjustments in the box and come up with those hits.”
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The host Warriors recorded six hits to Oak Grove’s three, but it was the timeliness of the Grizzlies (5-4-1) that made the ultimate difference.
Western Alamance junior Taylor Apple and Oak Grove freshman Mary Peyton Hodge engaged in a pitcher’s duel, but a couple of Warriors’ miscues and a clutch Oak Grove hit provided the difference in the top of the sixth inning.
Oak Grove’s Alissa Russ drew a walk from Apple to start the inning and later advanced to second base on a pitch that got past Warriors catcher Kara Alday. Chloe Watkins, the ensuing Grizzlies batter, laced an RBI double down the third-base line to drive the game’s only run across home plate.
The Warriors (6-3) created an opportunity to respond right away in the bottom of the sixth when both Ryan Justice and Apple notched singles to put two runners on base with no outs. The Warriors elected to try to bunt to move both runners into scoring position when Makena Harper came up to the plate next, but after fouling off her first two bunt attempts, Harper struck out.
Western Alamance junior Jillian Brunton flied out and junior Payton Rainey struck out to end the inning with both Justice and Apple left on base and a zero still showing in the Warriors' run column.
Western Alamance junior Taylor Apple pitches to an Oak Grove batter on Wednesday night.
Times-News
Luke Johnson For The Times-News
“We didn't hit as a team, which is what we work on a lot because it's going to take every single person on our team, on the bench to make things happen,” Brunton said. “I think our timing was off and I think we were swinging at balls and watching some good pitches go by. (Hodge) pitched a very good game, but I think that if we got our bats going, we could have definitely won this game.
“That definitely could have been a very critical inning for us if we produced at the plate. But, I think as a team, we're going to learn from this, we're going to work on it and show up next game on Friday and hit as a team and get it done.”
Hodge finished a complete-game performance with 12 strikeouts, no walks and six hits allowed to the Western Alamance offense.
“Not gonna take nothing away from (Hodge). That was a freshman pitcher they had and that kid threw well,” Bell said. “I don’t know if it's lefties, they're not picking the ball up. We work on that in practice. One thing we talked about in the huddle (after the game) is making adjustments during the game. They made adjustments. They were behind Taylor and they made adjustments and got through the ball.
"We never made those adjustments. We had a couple of them make some adjustments and we got some hits and got on, then we couldn't get the bunt down to move them. Just fundamental stuff we just didn't do.”
It's the second time this season Western Alamance has been shut out. The Warriors lost 1-0 at Northwest Guilford, a Class 4-A program, in their second game of the season.
Western Alamance juniors Payton Rainey, front, and Jillian Brunton stand on a dugout bench to cheer on their teammates against Oak Grove on Wednesday night.
Times-News
Luke Johnson For The Times-News
“That’s the style of competition we’re going to see all year long, bar a couple of games in our conference,” Bell said. “But outside of the conference, we’re going to see that type of pitching all the time. We’re not making adjustments and taking the mental approach in the box to come through in those situations. And, until we do, we’re still going to continue to struggle.”
“We don't need to count on that every time,” he said. “We’ve got to give her some support. We just haven't been doing that enough. She’s an exceptional pitcher. She pitched just as good of a game as (Hodge).”
Apple and Justice led Western Alamance’s offensive output with two hits apiece. Brunton and Jasmine Soos each supplied one hit.
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
