Kinsley Jackson’s pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning gave Polk County High School a 2-1 win over the Asheville Trailblazers on Monday, March 31 as the Wolverines won both ends of a softball twin bill.
Polk (now 8-2) took the opener 6-0, behind six shutout innings by Ashley Scruggs, who pitched all eight frames of the second game.
The Wolverines scored four in the home first of the opener, and added single runs in the third and fifth. Ashley Kropp, who went two-for-three with three runs, Brittany Jones, who was two-for-four, Maddy Foy, who went one-for-two with a walk and Scruggs, Hayley Kropp and Brandi Cordell, who had one hit each paced the winners.
In the top of the sixth in the opener, with a Trailblazer runner on first, Foy, playing second, snared a liner up the middle and threw to first, nipping the runner, for an inning-ending double play. Foy might have also saved at least one run.
The Trailblazers, coming off a 10-9 loss to North Henderson, managed just one run off Scruggs in 14 innings on Monday.
“That tells you what she’s doing,” said Polk coach Jeff Wilson of Scruggs. “She did an outstanding job, threw a mix of pitches and was dominant.”
Scruggs, just a freshman, relied mostly on blazing speed, but her occasional off-speed offerings had Trailblazer batters appearing lost.
In the opener, Scruggs fanned eight, walking just two. In the second game, she whiffed 10, walked just one and yielded just three hits.
In the first game, Kassidy Reynolds pitched the seventh, allowing no runs, with Asheville’s lone base runner reaching first on a walk.
Polk’s freshman record for pitching wins is 13. Scruggs, 8-2, with a decision in each game, is on a pace to more than threaten that mark.
The Wolverines wasted no time getting the jump in the first game. In the home first, with a runner on first, Brittany Jones bounced an infield single to put runners on first and second. Ashley Kropp walked to load the bases, before an infield grounder and a late throw home allowed a run to score, leaving the bases full.
An infield grounder and a force at home kept the bases full, before an infield groundout pushed in the second run. Cordell then smacked a two-run single to make it 4-0.
In the nightcap, the score was tied at one after seven, forcing extra innings. Scruggs stifled the Trailblazers in the top of the eighth. In Polk’s half, Alexis McCraw walked and took second on a wild pitch. Jackson stepped to the plate, singled and the game was Polk’s.
In that game, the Wolverines managed just five hits, including two by Hayley Kropp. Carolyn Couch was one-for-two with a double, scoring Polk’s first run.