Vance busts out the broom, sweeps Carrboro in double-header
Mar. 27—HENDERSON — The Vance County Vipers completed the season series sweep on Tuesday with Carrboro after busting out the broom against the Jaguars in a doubleheader at home.
After the game, Carrboro's head coach gave Northern Lakes Conference coach of the year Sheila Gill her flowers.
"She's great for that team," said Carrboro coach Frankie Williams. "She's a class act."
In the first game, Zari Terry was thrown out trying to steal second on the wild pitch. Jayla Smith got on base on a fly ball that dropped into shallow left field. She advanced to second on another wild pitch before a ground ball moved her to third with Blake Vick up to bat in an RBI spot.
The heavy-hitting senior sent a ball high into deep center field to score a run. Then Jakhiyah "Chicken Noodle" Evans sent a hot show down the third base line for an RBI triple to put the Vipers up 2-0 in the bottom of the first.
When not batting, Vick's rocket arm sat batters down nearly as quickly as they walked up, racking up strikeouts with scary efficiency.
An inaccurate throw from Terry on the infield led Clara "Bird" Faucette off the first base bag, but the imposing senior managed to make the tag on the runner for the out.
In the bottom of the second inning, Terry sent a monster shot over the left field wall for a single-shot home run to burst the floodgates wide open. The hard-hitting continued as Jayla Smith, "KK" Miles, and Vick all put the ball in play to make it a 6-0 game with no outs.
Roxie Bennett also earned an RBI on a base hit leading to a "dirty slide" into home plate from the speedy Evans. Bird couldn't run out a dropped third strike, and the Jaguars finally got out of the inning down 9-0.
With five innings played for both games, the mercy rule was not in effect with the shortened games, but the Vipers were able to ride the strong lead into a 9-0 shutout before running it back against the same team.
The second game was much more competitive to start, with Vance County jumping out to a 2-0 lead before the Jags tied it up. A sacrifice fly from Evans gave the Vipers another run and Charlotte Wortham batted in another to make it 4-2.
In the next slide, the Vipers were able to defend home plate to prevent any runs scored, and then earned three runs their next time up to bat on multiple wild pitches. With the pitches coming in slower in the second game, Vick sent a two-run bomb over the center field fence and out of reach of the Jaguars' outfielder — all of a sudden the score ballooned to 13-4.
The performance from the slugging senior is just a glimpse of what is to come as she prepares to accept a Division-1 offer on April 19.
The Vance County Vipers' softball team is rolling, winning six out of their seven games to start the year. Head coach Sheila Gill and assistant coach Kiyanna Kearney have done a tremendous job of keeping their girls on track.
As the season gets later, these games — and wins — become even more important. Vance County's next game will be on the road against South Granville on April 9.
