Lady Vipers flounder in double-header against South Granville

Apr. 10—HENDERSON — Vance County's softball team dropped a disappointing back-to-back to the South Granville Vikings on Tuesday afternoon. The historical legacy of the strong softball program proved too much for the Lady Vipers to overcome.

"I think we were intimidated," said head coach Sheila Gill.

The conference coach of the year alluded to her squad's lacking confidence and shying away from the tough matchup instead of embracing it as one of the reasons for the lackluster performance.

"We've been riding Blake [Vick], and these last conference games she's been pulling through for us," said Gill. "This one game she needed the rest of the team to step up."

According to her coach, Vick pitched a solid two games but needed more help from her defense to make plays behind her. While Vick was solid, she certainly wasn't her dominant self, giving up more hits and earned runs than fans of this program have grown accustomed to seeing.

The Vikings had the bats rolling from the opening pitch, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first game after a monster, opposite-field shot from the Vikings' senior captain, Georgia Preddy. Another base hit made it 4-0, and with two outs, Kanayla Jones — who was playing in the field for the first time this year — let another pop fly drop for a triple.

With a runner on third, still in a two-out jam, a great block from Jayla Smith behind the plate kept the runner on third, but another base hit led to another RBI for the Vikings. A passed ball a few pitches later scored another — and then the lead ballooned to 8-0 after Jakhiyah Evans couldn't come up with the diving catch on the move.

After an eight-run inning in the fourth, the Vikings had a commanding lead over a Vance County team, which had only lost one game heading into this matchup. Gill collected her entire defense at the rubber to tried and secure the final out — it worked.

The Vipers entered the fourth inning trailing 9-0. Even though they responded by putting two runs on the board — they allowed another eight-run inning the very next slide — and the first game ended before the fifth with the score 17-2 favoring South Granville.

Vick and the defense had given up 17 hits in just four slides, including Preddy, who went a perfect 4-4 with a double, homer and four runs scored.

It was an entirely different look for Vick and this team, which hadn't missed a beat to start the year. Long-multiple hit innings and extended at-bats for South Granville were a sign for things to come in the second game as Vick struggled to control the softball from the rubber.

In the following game, a wild pitch from Vick scored the first run for South Granville. Tatiana Bates lifted a ball over the fence a few at-bats later to make it a three-score game.

The Vipers, starting to get frustrated, let a foul ball drop harmlessly down the first baseline. Then, later in the same at-bat, the Vikings batter goes yard for the team's third HR of the afternoon — 4-0.

In the next inning, Vipers batters went three up and three down, giving the Vikings more chances to keep the bats rolling. In the bottom of the third, the Vikings controlled a 6-0 lead. And after scoring run number eight, their order turned over with sophomore Avery Wilson back at the plate.

The South Granville dugout had been vocal all afternoon as the energy level for the Vipers' squad began to drop late in the game. Still down 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Smith beat out a throw to first to get on board with a bunt, but the Vipers still couldn't drum up anything offensively.

In the final inning, "KK" Miles stopped a hard-hit ball on the infield and tried to make the play at first from her knees, but was a tad late. The Vipers' dugout collectively moaned as "Bird" Faucette didn't even attempt a throw — allowing the Vikings runner to score easily from third on the play to end it 10-0.

After the game, Gill called out her seniors for not being vocal enough on the diamond.

"No one wants to talk or step up," said Gill.

Riding a six-game win streak headed into the action on Tuesday, vibes around the team have been fairly relaxed and jovial. Now getting leapfrogged by South Granville in the conference standings, changes in attitude and practices may be in place.

The Vipers will have seven days to course correct before taking on a strong Louisburg team that sits in second behind the Vikings and is still undefeated in conference play.