Sparked by Jessica Roth’s first-inning home run, Blythewood’s Katie Chapel (above) hurled five shut-out innings Tuesday.
Tuesday night, two of top teams in Region IV-4A collided on the softball field at Blythewood high school. The Lady Vikings of Spring Valley and Blythewood split their first two contests with each game decided by just one run. But the final game of the regular season series was far and away from a one-run game as the Lady Bengals (16-3, 6-1) defeated Spring Valley (14-5, 6-1) in a 12-0 rout in five innings. Blythewood scored four runs in the first inning, starting with a two-run blast to right field by Jessica Roth. It was the ninth home run of the season for Roth and 17th of her career. Both marks are school records. Blythewood head coach Bucky Ware believes that the early runs set the tone for the game.
“Once you score and get up early, your hitters can relax a little bit,” Ware said.
The Lady Bengals continued their scoring trend by putting up eight more runs in the third inning when they sent 13 batters to the plate. The Lady Bengals compiled 12 hits in a timely fashion with 10 of their 12 runs coming with two outs. Blythewood pitcher Katie Chapel earned the win by allowing just three hits in five innings of work with no walks and striking out four. After the game Ware was extremely proud of his starting pitcher.
“Katie (Chapel) was awesome,” Ware stated. “She really got ahead of the hitters and only faced three three-ball counts.”
Even with the spectacular pitching performance, Ware didn’t forget to praise his defense for a complete team effort.
“The defense played great behind her (Chapel) and didn’t make any errors,” Ware said.
With three games left in the regular season the Lady Bengals will travel to Lugoff-Elgin today (April 12) to take on the Lady Demons. Blythewood benefitted from a late error to beat Lugoff-Elgin in their first meeting, 1-0. Not only is there a possible region title on the line but history as well. The Lady Bengals have won seven straight region titles and need a win to keep pace with Spring Valley. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
