Garner softball rallies by Harnett Central for 11th straight win

Garner softball coach Moe Barbour says this year’s team is one of his best hitting teams in a long time.

Barbour’s Trojans needed all of the offense they could muster to rally past Harnett Central on Friday night, winning a 9-8 thriller for their 11th straight victory.

Garner (12-2 overall) improved to 6-0 in the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference with its second victory over Harnett Central in three days. On Tuesday, Garner won at home 10-5 over Harnett Central.

Senior Alisha Josey led Garner’s offense, belting a second-inning grand slam, collecting three hits and driving in the winning run in the fifth inning.

“I don’t know of a better hitter around,” Barbour said. “She’s the only senior I’ve got. She’s hitting around .600. She’s the complete package. She really is.”

Garner took a 5-1 lead after a five-run second inning that was highlighted by Josey’s slam to straightaway center field.

Harnett Central (9-5, 4-2) answered with a six-run fourth inning to take an 8-6 lead – getting an RBI double from Hayley Waddell, a two-run double from Searria Fisher and an RBI single from Kolby Medlin in the big inning.

Garner came right back, scoring three runs in the fifth after two were out. Garner collected four straight hits. Kira Jackson tied the score at 8-8 with a two-run double and Josey drove her in with a single to make it 9-8.

Harnett Central got base runners on in the fifth and seventh but could not score against freshman Kristana Cardenas, who came on to get the final out of the fourth and shut out Harnett Central the rest of the way.

“Both teams had big innings and we just kind of fell short in the end,” Harnett Central coach Lauren Taylor said. “Garner’s been a good hitting team. They hit well Tuesday and hit well tonight. We knew we had to keep scoring runs but just weren’t able to push them across at the end.”

Turning point

The Garner fifth. After a pair of groundouts to start the inning, Garner bunched together four hits.

Kristina D’Arco singled to shortstop and Sydney Jones reached on a bunt. Jackson then smacked a line drive off the glove of a retreating Harnett Central center fielder for a two-run double and Josey drove a ground ball through the infield to push Garner in front at 9-8.

They said it

“When they took the lead, my girls showed some heart,” Barbour said, “something that wouldn’t have happed last year. If we had had that lead last year and somebody had come back on us and gone up by two, we wouldn’t have recovered. But this is a different ball team.”

Three to watch

Alisha Josey, Garner: The senior slugger went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and five RBIs.

“On that pitch (the grand slam), I just relaxed, left my hands on my shoulders and let God do it,” Josey said. “That was not me.”

Searria Fisher, Harnett Central: The second baseman had a pair of doubles and drove in three runs for the host team.

Kristina Cardenas, Garner: The freshman came on to get the final out of the fourth inning and shut Harnett Central out for the final 3 1/3 innings of the game.

By the numbers

13: base hits by Garner.

11: straight victories for Garner.

11: base hits by Harnett Central.

8: errors committed by Garner. “Normally we play good defense,” Barbour said. “Tonight we didn’t.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 8:21 AM with the headline "Garner softball rallies by Harnett Central for 11th straight win."