Opp Lady Bobcats edge past Kinston

Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 16, 2019

The Opp Lady Bobcats rallied in the final frame to knock off the Kinston Lady Bulldogs 1-0 on Friday night in the Andalusia High School Bulldog Bash Tournament.

Courtney Lunsford got the start in the circle for Kinston and she struck out the first two batters of the game before getting a ground out to end the top of the first.

Graceanne Spears was pitching for the Lady Bobcats and she followed suit with a pair of strikeouts to start the bottom of the first inning.

Lunsford then picked up a two-out single for the Lady Bulldogs, but Kinston wasn’t able to bring her around to score.

In the top of the second inning, Opp got a leadoff single from Braya Hodges and then she moved to second off of a sacrifice bunt.

The Lady Bobcats did their best to move her around to score, but Lunsford and the Lady Bulldogs didn’t let that happen.

Spears continued to go pitch-for-pitch with her counterpart as she picked up two more strikeouts while sitting down the Lady Bulldogs in order in the bottom of the second inning.

Lunsford and Spears continued to pound the strike zone and kept the base paths clear for the majority of the contest.

In the top of the final inning, Emily Mitchell reached on a dropped third strike to start the frame.

Riley Walker laid down a perfect bunt and the Opp runner moved up from first to third on the sacrifice.

The gamble paid off as Cassadi Adams lifted a ball off the fence in center that allowed the Opp runner to score with ease.

Spears then struck out two more and got a pop out to help led the Lady Bobcats to a 1-0 victory.

“We had great pitching tonight,” Opp head coach David McVay said. “Graceanne threw well and our mentality is to keep the wheels on the bus and give yourself a chance to win at the end of the game. We’ve done that the last two nights in a row. Hard work is paying off. We started season off a little sluggish, but it’s turning around.”