Pisgah softball knocked out in second round of state
May 18—After winning their opening round game, Pisgah softball saw their campaign come to a close with a 5-2 loss to No. 2 Kings Mountain.
"I'm proud of our determination and our fight," Pisgah coach Heidi Morgan said. "One thing that stood out to me on Friday is that in moments of adversity when it would be so easy to shut down and quit, no one on our team quit. They fought until the bitter end. That as a coach makes me proud."
Pisgah finished the season with a 15-6 record, including a 9-3 finish in the conference to finish third.
"We had set a team goal of making it to the third round," Morgan said. "We did fall short of that goal, but we did accomplish many other goals during the second-round game. It makes me extremely proud to coach them."
Coming into the game, Pisgah had won six straight games, but that didn't slow down Kings Mountain, who came out of the gates hot.
The Mountaineers scored in the bottom of the first, third and fourth to go up 3-0.
"We definitely made adjustments as we needed to," Morgan said. "Unfortunately, they just didn't come fast enough."
In the fifth inning, an error allowed junior Savannah Dickerson to reach. A single for senior Tannon Sorrells. Senior Addison Sorrells singled to drive the run in.
"In the fifth inning, we started hitting and was able to manufacture a run. We just couldn't string them together to get what we needed," Morgan said. "At the plate, you just have to make small adjustments. She had a really good rise ball. Just try to be patient and jump on the first strike you see."
Pisgah added one more run in the top of the after a pair of singles from seniors Jayden Moore and Tannon Sorrells.
The final innings showed that Pisgah was going to fight the entire way. Kings Mountain sophomore pitcher Madeline Huffman struck out 17 batters in the win.
"Obviously, it's hard to win a game when you have 17 strikeouts, but we battled from the beginning to the end," Morgan said.
While the result was not what the Lady Bears were looking for, it did provide Pisgah with a chance to build some confidence heading into next season.
"It was huge for our momentum and motivation moving into next season," Morgan said.
The team will be losing three starting seniors from this season, leaving three holes to fill in the lineup.
"I feel confident we can get that done with some underclassmen moving up to the varsity level," Morgan said.
Those additions will fill out a solid returning lineup.
"Looking at next season, we've got a strong team coming back," Morgan said. "I'm excited. I'm all ready for next season to begin."
