ROCKY MOUNT -- Stage 1 is complete.
Behind strong defense and solid hitting, the fourth-seeded Fike varsity softball team made its first step toward building postseason momentum Monday with an 8-1 win against fifth-seeded SouthWest Edgecombe in the opening round of the 3-A NEW 6 Conference tournament at Nash Central High.
"I just told them before the game that it's the conference tournament and we're 0-0, and it's a journey," Lady Demons head coach Brent Pearson said. "Stage 1 of that journey was tonight with SouthWest and not to worry about stage 2 until we got through with stage 1."
His team got the message, as junior pitcher Katelyn Suggs tossed seven innings, scattering six hits. Although she admitted it wasn't her best performance, with plenty of help from the Fike defense behind her, it was more than enough.
"At the beginning of the game, I was really frustrated because I've been having some problems with my arm circle, said Suggs, who did not allow more than one hit in any inning. "So, I wasn't really sure how I'd do. But the defense played really well. The infield was taking everything, and that's all I can ask of them. If I'm not on my 'A' game, they are."
SouthWest Edgecombe pitcher Haley Wishall took the loss with eight runs on 14 hits. From the get-go, Fike had her number, scoring six runs in the first three innings and stringing together several key hits.
"Amen to that," Lady Cougars head coach Beth Madigan said. "They just had them in the right situation. Then we had a couple mental errors that cost us a couple runs, but that's the game of softball, I guess."
Michole Brown, a senior shortstop, went 3 for 4 with three singles to lead the Lady Demons offense. Sophomore second baseman Lindsey Orr had two RBI singles, as Suggs, sophomore center fielder Adrianne Turnage, freshman catcher Leslie Finch and freshman left fielder Haley Hart also had two hits.
"The bats came alive," said Suggs, who singled and scored in the first and drove in one and scored again in the second. "We don't hit well off her sometimes, but I don't know what happened this time -- we just exploded. We need to do that (against Northern Nash), that's for sure."
On top of Fike's resurgent offense, three costly errors compounded the day's frustrations for the Lady Cougars, who finished the season at 6-15. But being a young team with only one senior, SouthWest aims to build off this season's bumps, which included five conference losses in the opposition's final at-bat (four coming on key errors), for next season.
"We had a good season, but every break, we were on the bad end of it," Madigan said, noting next year's team will likely field seven seniors.
Lindsay Lewis finally put the Lady Cougars on the board in the sixth. Lewis, who finished 2 for 3, ripped a liner into right-center field that bounced past the Fike outfielders, bringing Lewis all the way around on the three-base error for their lone run.
Fike takes on top-seed Northern Nash, which won its two regular-season meetings with the Lady Demons, this afternoon at 5.
"We played an awesome game, and we want to build on that and carry it over to the Northern game," Pearson said. "If we can hit the ball like we did tonight, I feel like we'll challenge them. We've just got to tighten the screws on defense, unlike the first two times we played them."
mlindsay@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807
Score by innings:
SW Edgecombe 000 001 0 -- 1
Fike 321 002 x -- 8
WP-Katelyn Suggs (5-4). LP-Haley Wishall.
LEADING HITTERS -- SWE: L. Lewis 2-3, Hinton 2-2. Fike: Suggs 2-4 2R RBI, Orr 2-4 R RBI, Finch 2-4 R RBI, Brown 3-4 R, Hart 2-4 R, Turnage 2-3 R.