LAVALE — No. 1 Allegany scored in three of the four innings it batted in, blanking Fort Hill 10-0 in five innings on Monday at Lavale Lions Field.
“Everybody hit the ball one through nine in the order,” Allegany head coach Dave Winner said. “When the last three hitters got on base, they made things happen.”
The Campers (7-0, 2-0 WestMAC) have scored exactly 10 runs in each of their last three games.
“I thought their pitcher pitched with good location,” Fort Hill head coach Jason McMahan said. “She had good spin and unfortunately for us, we were unable to put a bat on the ball.”
After two quick outs in the top of the first, Abi Britton doubled down the third-base line.
A fly ball to left was dropped, scoring Britton.
The next pitch, Sky Porter doubled to right center.
On another first pitch swing, Jordyn Sneathen sent a line drive to center for a hit.
Two runs scored as Sneathen took second on the throw to go up 3-0.
“We were consistently putting the ball in play, putting pressure on their defense,” Winner said. “We’ve worked on hitting the ball hard and getting base runners on.”
Maylee Blank opened the bottom of the second with a line-drive base hit over the second baseman.
Desirae Hilton and Riley Gallagher went back-to-back with first pitch hits.
Hilton’s was a bunt that landed about two feet in front of the catcher.
It scored a run as Hilton took second after a throwing error at first base.
Gallagher doubled to center for another run.
Leading 5-0 after two innings, the Campers had two on with two outs.
Hilton singled to shallow center, scoring two.
After Gallagher was hit by a pitch, McKenzie Monahan sent a line drive to right.
A throwing error in right field allowed Monahan to take second while two runners scored to extend Alco’s lead to 9-0.
“You might be able to get away with some of those errors against anyone else,” McMahan said. “But Allegany, they’re gonna make you count for that. If we take those errors away, I think the game’s a little closer.”
On the next pitch, Britton hit a hard line drive off the third baseman’s glove for an RBI single.
Sneathen had a no-hitter going through four innings for the Campers.
The Sentinels (4-5, 2-3 WestMAC) had one base runner on a hit batter in the second to prevent a perfect game bid.
Sneathen threw five shutout innings for Allegany, only allowing two hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
“She just threw strikes, she threw the ball around the plate,” Winner said. “We know she’s a good pitcher, she’s only a sophomore. You saw what she can do.”
Fort Hill broke up the potential no-hitter with two hits in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Lindsey Ternent hit a ground ball into center for the first hit, a single.
Two batters later, Paetyn Davis sent a ground ball into left for a base hit.
For the Sentinels, two factors hindered the chances of an upset win.
Fort Hill was unable to consistently work the count.
Six of the 18 recorded outs were on balls put in play. Three at-bats ended on the first pitch, two at-bats lasted four pitches.
Out of nine strikeouts, five lasted either three or four pitches.
“I think she had some good spin, she located the low fastball,” McMahan said. “Players wanted to attack the ball, but we had nine strikeouts and four were looking. Whatever they were seeing in the box definitely affected the result of their at-bat.”
Errors were also costly as three Sentinel mistakes led to four runs.
Porter led the Campers with three hits while Hilton and Britton added two each.
“Sky works just as hard as anybody, if not harder,” Winner said. “She’s been hitting the ball hard, finally she got some that fell in today. Des had a beautiful little bunt and a nice line drive. That’s the kids we need to hit for us to have a chance at a state championship. We need everybody hitting.”
MaeLeigh Plummer took the loss in four innings, allowing 11 hits, 10 runs (five earned) and two walks with two strikeouts.
Allegany heads to No. 2 Petersburg on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
“This year, our schedule’s a lot more difficult, we’ve played a lot of good teams,” Winner said. “We welcome the challenge, we’re excited to play against good teams.”
Fort Hill hosts Turkeyfoot Valley on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.