Garner completes season sweep of East Wake softball
A young Garner softball team is coming of age quickly and picked up a pair of Greater Neuse River 4A Conference wins over East Wake this week, 12-0 Tuesday and followed that with a hard-fought 7-5 Thursday night win.
Both teams swung the bats well, rapping out nine hits each, but the Trojans pushed across two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good.
Garner centerfielder Alisha Josey, the only senior on the team and a .576 hitter going to Appalachian State next year, sees a big difference in this year’s team.
“We’ve got just about the same team as a year ago, we only lost one player,” Josey said. “But we’ve got really good chemistry and we’re playing with a lot of heart.”
Josey had two hits and a walk from her second spot in the order while leadoff hitter, junior shortstop Kira Jackson, was four for four with two doubles and two runs batted in.
“Garner is such a good hitting team,” East Wake coach Melissa Bell said. “I’m not sure what happened in the 12-0 game. I haven’t had that happen in a while, but I think those two girls at the top of their order were eight for eight against us in that game.”
Three to know
Haley Glover, East Wake: The senior catcher is also going to play at Appalachian State next year and she had three hits and an RBI for the Warriors. “Hitting his her strength,” coach Bell said. “And she’s come on strong for us the last couple of games.”
Sam Widener, Garner: The sophomore pitcher spaced out nine Warriors’ hits and saw her team commit six errors behind her, but she only walked one batter and pitched out of trouble, leaving nine East Wake runners stranded.
Libby Bynum, Garner: With her team trailing 2-0, Bynum ripped a bases loaded hit that gave her team a 3-2 lead in the third inning.
They said it
“We were a young team last year and took our lumps and we’re still a young team,” said Garner coach Moe Barbour. “But I like where we are going into the break. East Wake is good ball team and I knew this was going to be a tough game, but we’re playing with some confidence.”
Highlight reel
Josey left the game for an inning with a foot spasm and freshman Sydney Jones moved from left to center for the fourth inning. Jones came in on a ball it by Samantha Albino and made a great diving catch to start the inning. It could have prevented a big inning for the visitors as East Wake went on to get three base runners and score a run in the fourth.
Looking ahead
Both teams are off next week, but when school starts back East Wake (6-3, 2-2) has a pair of games against West Johnston and Garner plays a nonconference game against Broughton and then plays Harnett Central twice. Teams in the Greater Neuse this year are facing the same conference team twice in the same week this year.
This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Garner completes season sweep of East Wake softball."