Clinton kept it close for five innings in their Four County Conference softball game on Thursday night against East Bladen. Unfortunately for the Lady Horses they had to give the Lady Eagles their turn at the plate in the top of the sixth. East Bladen used some timely hitting and capitalized on Clinton errors to blow open a close game and run away from the Lady Horses for a 14-3 win.

The Lady Horses trailed East Bladen 6-3 going into the sixth inning and had all rights to feel like they had a great chance to pick up their first conference win. The only problem was that the Lady Eagles had other plans. East Bladen sent twelve batters to the plate, getting five hits and help from three errors by Clinton to get 8 runs across, and blow the close game open.

By the time the Lady Dark Horse defense got off the field in the sixth inning the energy that had been so high earlier had ebbed and Clinton went down in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game under the mercy rule. “We had that one inning again that really hurt us. We were right there with a great chance to win going into the sixth, then we just couldn’t get them out”, said Clinton head coach Todd Slater after the game.

Clinton got all three of their runs in the second inning when Markaysia Hobbs, Keona Hobbs and Callie Sumner scored runs to pull Clinton within two runs of the Lady Eagles at 5-3. East Bladen scratched out a run in the third to extend the lead to 6-3 where it stayed until the sixth inning deluge.

Coach Slater praised his charges after the game, adding “we may not have gotten the result we wanted tonight but the girls really stepped it up and played better tonight. It was a real pleasure to watch them tonight.”

The loss drops Clinton’s record to 1-14 overall and 0-10 in Four County Conference play. Clinton returns to action on Tuesday when they host Union.

Reach Mike Carter at [email protected]

By Mike Carter

Sports Writer

Clinton’s Callie Sumner dives across the first base line in an attempt to catch a foul ball. To view more photos from this game, visit the sports section on atthe18foto.smugmug.com.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_DSC_4119.jpgClinton’s Callie Sumner dives across the first base line in an attempt to catch a foul ball. To view more photos from this game, visit the sports section on atthe18foto.smugmug.com.