Golden Falcons blank W. Alamance, 1-0

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 25, 2012 1:49 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock finds itself right where it hoped to be -- in the driver's seat.

Brooke Bell pitched another complete-game shutout and the Golden Falcons defeated Western Alamance 1-0 in Game 1 of the best-of-three N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A eastern regional championship softball series.

The teams play today at Western Alamance Middle School. First pitch is 5 p.m.

Aycock won its 25th consecutive game and has not surrendered a run in 54 innings.

"It was important to get the first game in and get some confidence going into the next game," Golden Falcons' head coach Brad Matthews said.

Neither team threatened offensively until the bottom of the third inning. Aycock (28-2 overall) used an error, a walk and a wild pitch to put runners on second and third base with two outs. Warriors' starting pitcher Tyler Miles struck out Reagan Herndon to end the inning.

Connor Davis led off the Golden Falcons' fourth inning and reached third base on a Western Alamance error. Davis scored on Ivy Hartzell's bunt single to put the Golden Falcons in front 1-0.

"When Connor got on third, and I decided to go ahead and bunt and make sure the run comes in," Hartzell said. "It felt good of course because it was a 1-0 ballgame, but I guarantee you tomorrow we're going to come out and swing the bats."

The Warriors (25-4) used a single and an Aycock error to put runners on first and second base with one out. Golden Falcons' starting pitcher Brooke Bell used a groundout and a strikeout to work out of trouble.

Bell surrendered just two hits, struck out six, did not issue a walk and improved to 19-2. The senior right-hander sat Western Alamance down in order in five of the seven innings.

"I was real nervous at first," Bell said. "I felt good before the game and I had my momentum from (Wednesday) night so everything felt good. In the fifth inning when they had runners on base they had their No. 9 batter (up) and I went straight after her and struck her out."