Lady Hornets sweep Union

Published 11:30 am Wednesday, April 29, 2015

DAILY LEADER / MARTY ALBRIGHT / Loyd Star's Julie Smith races in to score a run in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Union Lady Yellowjackets Tuesday afternoon at Jan Smith Delaughter Field.

DAILY LEADER / MARTY ALBRIGHT / Loyd Star’s Julie Smith races in to score a run in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Union Lady Yellowjackets Tuesday afternoon at Jan Smith Delaughter Field.

The Loyd Star Lady Hornets completed a two game sweep Tuesday night after knocking off the Union Lady Yellowjackets 4-0 in game two of the best of three series in the second round of the Class 2A softball state playoffs at Jan Smith Delaughter Field.

In Monday night contest, Loyd Star defeated Union 3-1.

“The girls played really well defensively,” said Loyd Star coach Jan Delaughter. “Offensively, the girls did a good job in getting the timely hits we needed to win the game.”

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The Lady Hornets (23-3) advance to face the Enterprise-Clark Lady Bulldogs in the next round of the playoffs. Loyd Star will visit Enterprise-Clark Friday for game one and return home Saturday to host Enterprise-Clark for game two and game three if necessary. Game times are currently unavailable at press time.

Loyd Star 4, Union 0 

The Lady Hornets came out and picked up where they left off at from Monday night contest both offensively and defensively.

Loyd Star’s defense and strong pitching kept the Lady Yellowjackets offense off balance throughout the contest. The Lady Hornets managed to hold Union scoreless for 13 innings between games one and two.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Hornets put the first run of the scoreboard to take a 1-0 lead.

Loyd Star added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to lead 3-0 and increase their lead by one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to have a commanding 4-0 advantage and held on for the sweep.

Mackenzie Smith was the winning pitching for the Lady Hornets. Smith collected her sixth shutout win of the season while giving up only one hit with a four strikeout and no walk performance.

Anna Rigdon suffered the loss for Union with one strikeout and one walk.

Ali Gartman was the top slugger for the Lady Hornets at the plate with a double and a single. Megan Norton contributed a double and Julie Smith had a single.

Haley Morgan provided the only hit for Union’s offense with a single.