Maggie Herrera (4) slides safely into second during game 1 Friday. (Photo/DeAnna Robinson)
BLYTHEWOOD (March 30, 2016) – Friday night, while donning their pink ‘strike out cancer’ jerseys, the Blythewood Bengals thumped Irmo, 8-0, in the second game of a softball double header.
“This is probably the 10th time now,” Bengals head coach Jordan Atkinson said about the Pink Out. “The kids love when they get to wear pink, and every inning we usually do a breast cancer statistic to remind everybody. They enjoying wearing the pink and they all know somebody who’s had breast cancer.”
The Lady Yellow Jackets put themselves behind in the early going, giving up two singles, and allowing a run on a wild pitch. Irmo’s bats went down with little resistance in the first, and that proved to be a prevalent theme for their offense.
Bengal’s starting pitcher, Emily Babbitt, lent herself some run support when she knocked in the first RBI of the game in the top of the second inning. Erin Goff, Ashlee Romanick and Kendall Parker all followed with second inning RBIs.
“When we score first we’re unbeatable. We have a habit of getting down in the hole and having to fight back,” Atkinson said. “When we come out hot and swinging the bat we can play with anybody.”
By the time the dust had settled in the second inning Blythewood was in control with a 5-0 lead. With Babbitt on the mound, five runs would be plenty.
Babbitt pitched all five innings, and while she only struck out one batter, she gave up just two hits, and did not even allow a runner to move into scoring position. She also went 1-for-3 at the plate with a double and an RBI.
Blythewood led off the third by flexing their offensive muscle once again. It was Samantha Hall who started off the inning with a single, and a couple of batters later Maggie Herrera brought her around to score.
The Irmo offense once again failed to make an appearance in their half of the third. The leadoff batter reached on a walk, but three fly balls later and the inning was over without a hit or run to show for their effort.
Savannah Rubeiz, the Yellow Jacket’s starting pitcher, had a rough night that continued to get worse when two more runs came home off of an error in the fourth.
Rubeiz was taken to task by the Blythewood bats. She gave up five earned runs on 13 hits, with two walks, two hit batters and two wild pitches.
Rubeiz did nearly get a hit down in the fourth, but was robbed by an athletic catch from Bengal’s centerfielder Grace Campbell.
“Defensively we are usually very solid. I know we’re going to make great plays. Kendall Parker had to fill in in left field for someone who was hurt, she played well. Our defense is just good,” Atkinson said.
The fifth inning marked the only inning that the Bengals did not pick up at least two hits and one run. Babbitt but the bow on her complete game shutout performance, by barreling through the fifth and final inning.
The 8-0 victory was a nice night cap for the Bengals who had already picked up a dominant 9-0 victory in game one of the double header.
“It’s good because we’re on spring break now, and so we’ve got about a week off, and we come back and have Westwood, then Lugoff-Elgin,” Atkinson said. “We’re sitting here 4-0 in the region, and so we have two big games coming up so it’s good to get that momentum going into spring break.”
BHS: 1-4-1-2-0- 8-13-1
IHS: 0-0-0-0-0 – 0-2-3
Pitching: BH – Emily Babbitt (W), CG, SO, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K. IH- Savannah Rubeiz (L), CG, 13H, 8R, 5ER, 2BB, 0K, 2HB, 2WP.
Hitting: 1B- Grace Campbell (2), A. Romanick, K. Parker, S. Simpson, S. Hall (2), C. Watts (BH); Robyn Abernathy, T, Brown (IH). 2B-Emily Babbitt (BH). RBI- E. Babbitt, E. Goff, A. Romanick, M. Herrera, K. Parker (BH).
LOB: BH-7, IH-2.
