Holly Springs softball knocks off Apex, hands Cougars their first loss

According to her coach, Holly Springs senior pitcher Ashton Jones threw the second-best game of her life as Holly Springs beat previously undefeated Apex 2-1 Friday.

Jones said there was no way to describe the win. But if words couldn’t tell the story of how big the victory was for Holly Springs (9-5, 6-3), the postgame actions of the Golden Hawks did. Jones and her teammates celebrated wildly and even took a team picture after the game.

“This was the first time we’ve beaten them in my four years, so it’s just amazing,” Jones said.

In what proved to be a low-scoring game with not much room for error, it was Jones who silenced an Apex (12-1, 9-1) offense that was averaging nearly 10 runs per game before Friday.

Jones struck out five batters, but was most effective when pitching in tough situations, none bigger than the seventh inning.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Jones got Apex junior right fielder Samantha Pesot to ground out to second base to end the game.

Jones’ counterpart, Apex senior pitcher Julia Cerasi, was also impressive and despite having a rough third inning, kept her team in the game, giving up only four hits while recording six strikeouts.

Apex coach Dana Higgins said the Cougars just couldn’t come up with hits in key situations, which would prove to be the difference in the game.

“They were able to make big plays when we had runners in scoring position,” Higgins said. “We didn’t hit the way we usually hit.”

Turning point

With the way Jones was pitching, two runs was enough for a Holly Springs win and the Golden Hawks got both of their runs in the third inning when sophomore right fielder Mary-Kate Myers tripled and senior second baseman Latia Burt singled in consecutive at-bats.

From that point on, Holly Springs rode Jones’ ar, to a win.

They said it

“The best way that my girls were able to keep their composure was I did not let them stay silent one second of the game. They were moving their mouths the whole time.” – Holly Springs coach Emily Pierce.

Three to know

Ashton Jones, Holly Springs: Pierce said Jones pitched the best game of her life in Holly Springs’ 1-0 loss to the Cougars in March. Not deterred by the final result in that game, Jones picked up right where she left off against Apex and led the Golden Hawks to the biggest win of their season.

Julia Cerasi, Apex: Technically, Cerasi took the loss Friday, but the senior definitely pitched well enough for Apex to win. Like Jones, Cerasi pitched particularly well with runners on base and she even picked up a hit in the seventh inning to keep the game going.

Latia Burt, Holly Springs: Burt drove in Holly Springs’ second run of the game, but she came up even bigger in the field. With two Apex baserunners aboard and two outs in the sixth inning, Burt tracked down a tricky fly ball in shallow right field and made a clutch catch to possibly save a run from scoring.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Holly Springs softball knocks off Apex, hands Cougars their first loss."