Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The White County Warriorettes were dominant in the field and at the plate in their 9-0 win over Macon County on Thursday.
After scratching across two runs in the first inning, senior pitcher Addison Abell worked around a one-out double to preserve the lead. Taylor Roberts added on a run in the second inning with an RBI double, just the beginning of her big night at the plate.
Abell settled in beginning in the third inning, not allowing a runner to third base until the sixth inning. This gave the White County offense some time to go to work on Macon’s starting pitcher, as Roberts added on an RBI single in the fourth to run the score to 4-0.
The fifth inning is where White County broke the game open. With the bases loaded and two outs, Macon made the decision to intentionally walk Caydra Parker to pitch to Roberts.
She made them pay immediately with a three-run double to run the score to 9-0, effectively ending any chance for a Macon County comeback. Abell closed down the last two innings and gave White County the 9-0 win.
Roberts finished the night 3-5 at the plate with five RBIs, while Abell pitched a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts and a home run of her own at the plate for head coach Jerry Roberts.
“We finally started hitting the ball a little bit,” Roberts said. “We just hadn’t been hitting the ball very well, but tonight, I feel like we took some good cuts and showed some discipline…hats off to (Abell) again, doing her job and putting another goose-egg on the scoreboard.”
It’s nothing new for Abell, as she’s been lights out during her entire career in Sparta. What was more impressive to Roberts was how she settled in after a tough opening two frames.
“The first two innings, she wasn’t crisp,” Roberts said. “She was off a little bit, but I felt like she settled in starting in the third inning.”
As far as Taylor Roberts’ performance, the head coach hopes this showing gives her some confidence moving forward.
“After they walked Caydra, Taylor comes up big with her double,” Roberts said. “That’s big for her confidence, she’d been struggling as of late. Her getting three hits and driving in some runs will keep building that confidence.”
