No. 8 Oak Grove escapes No. 1 Northwest Guilford in battle of unbeatens
When the month of May comes around, success favors the prepared.
Only a dozen softball teams in the state entered this week unbeaten, so a late-season matchup between two of them was sure to yield a thrilling finish.
Oak Grove scored four runs in the fifth inning to build up a lead that would be just enough to survive a late Northwest Guilford rally in a 4-3 non-conference win to improve to 15-0.
The Grizzlies and Vikings are both projected as top seeds in their respective regions in HighSchoolOT's latest edition of softball playoff projections.
Despite no runs to show for it, Oak Grove applied early offensive pressure. Northwest's Bel Varadi had to battle to strand runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings that she took the circle.
The Vikings got to Izzy Lawrence in the top of the third to break the ice. Neveah Scott and Torey Cagno worked themselves to second and third to start the frame, and Scott crossed on a McKenzie Whalen fielder's choice.
After Varadi cruised through the heart of the order in the bottom half of the frame, Oak Grove put a halt to the momentum. The Grizzlies turned to the bullpen and called on ace left hander Mary Peyton Hodge who go the rest of the way and help keep it a 1-0 game until the offense could erupt in the fifth.
Hodge started the bottom of the fifth with a walk. Out of the lead-off spot, Abby Cruz reached via bunt, and Chloe Smith brought two home on a bunt of her own that was thrown away twice.
In a battle of Appalachian State recruits, Carly White provided the biggest blow of the inning as she slapped a run-scoring single the other way against Varadi for a 3-1 lead. Lawrence followed by grounding into a fielder's choice that brought White home from third.
Down to their final three outs, Northwest Guilford made things interesting.
Ella Best pushed an infield hit up the first base line and beat it out to lead-off the inning. She reached second on a wild pitch and scored following an errant thrown to first on a Scott bunt.
Callie Rodrigues scored Scott with a two-out RBI single to center to set the table for Varadi who represented the go-ahead run. A deep drive to right field off of her bat settled into the glove of Hollis Fitzgerald to secure the nail-biting win for Oak Grove.
The Grizzlies are 15-0 and continue to build on to one of the state's most impressive resumes. Northwest Guilford falls to 13-1 with the defeat.
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