Beddingfield earns regular-season sweep of CBA softball

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on March 26, 2015 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Beddingfield softball coach Jeremy Howard sits back and thinks about his record against Charles B. Aycock in his career.

"Uh, coming into this year I think I was 1-18," Howard said.

Well, now he's 3-18.

The Bruins swept the regular-season series with a 7-0 win.

"We know how good of a program these guys have so we were very excited to get these two wins," Howard said. "We're going to enjoy this, but at the same time we have to get focused and keep it up."

Caroline Smith got the win for Beddingfield, and became the first pitcher to shut out the Golden Falcons since March 28, 2013. She lasted all seven innings and allowed five hits, walked five and struck out four.

"She did a really good job getting the ball inside and jamming us," CBA coach LaVon Matthews said. "We just weren't able to get out to the ball and square it up."

The Golden Falcons stranded eight runners in scoring position and ran themselves out of two innings with a runner's interference mistake, and an attempt to score on a passed ball -- that Smith covered home and made the play for the out.

"Honestly, I think I have only ever made that kind of play once before in my life," Smith said. "You don't have those kinds of plays happen very often and (Allison) did a great job getting to it, because I had just walked a batter and for a second I didn't notice she was trying to score."

Smith contributed on the offensive side as well.

She scored twice after reaching on walks both times. Her catcher, Allison Pate, drove her in on both occasions. Pate, a transfer from Hunt, drove in Smith on a line drive to right field in the first inning. Four innings later, she took a fastball that was up in her eyes over the left-field fence for a two-run homer to put Beddingfield up 4-0.

"Fastball up in her eyes, over the left-field fence, that's just how I drew it up on the board when I drove the bus over here," Howard joked. "No, she's just a great player and she's a joy to coach. That was just great hitting."

Taylor Waddell endured the pitching loss for the Golden Falcons, but kept her team in the game more than the scoreboard indicated. Until the seventh inning, it was a four-run ball game and Aycock had had plenty of chances to strike.

Beddingfield put the game away with a three-run seventh.

"That's a really good team over there, that's why we scheduled them," Matthews said. "When we get to playoffs we want to be prepared with what we're going to see. They're going to do that for us."

Mackenzie Wheeler led the Golden Falcons with two hits, including a double. Mookie Powell had two hits out of the leadoff spot. The five through nine batters in Aycock's lineup combined to go 0-for-13 at the plate with two walks.

"We just didn't hit tonight," Matthews said. "You have those nights. But these girls know how to hit and they know what they can do. We got some stuff to work on, but we know the bats will get better."