Bulldogs' Wood nearly perfect, Carroll provides key hit

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 5, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- Hailey Wood looked nearly "pitcher perfect" inside the circle on a breezy Monday evening.

And teammate Taylor Carroll helped out her injured teammate.

Carroll bounced the game-deciding two-RBI off the left-field wall in the fifth inning, and Princeton upended North Duplin, 2-0, on the Carolina 1-A Conference scene.

The Bulldogs, the five-time defending league champions, moved into a first-place tie with the Rebels at 9-1 atop the CC standings. It was North Duplin's second shutout defeat of the season.

Wood held the Rebels, who entered the game with a .377 team batting average, hitless through five innings. The right-hander faced just three batters over the minimum for a seven-inning game and retired four North Duplin batters on strikeouts.

The Rebels (11-2-1 overall) had just three base runners on the night. Haley Brogden walked in the fifth, Mikayla Koch foiled Wood's no-hit bid in the sixth and Alyssa Santos doubled in the seventh.

"I've messed up the muscle at the top of my back ... the middle of the spine where the vertebrae size changes and it's pushing on my muscle that causes spasms and runs down through my leg," said Wood, who picked up her Carolina Conference-leading ninth win on the rubber this season.

"...not throwing as hard as I usually throw. I tried to keep them off balance ... different pitches, different speeds."

Brogden kept the Dogs harnessed, too.

The right-hander logged five strikeouts and permitted four base runners through four innings. Princeton stranded two in scoring position.

"I thought Haley threw the ball extremely well for us," ND head coach Ricky Edwards said. "Their pitcher did a great job of changing up, keeping us off balance and they made great plays behind her."

Princeton (13-4) got unchained in the fifth.

Brogden hit both lead-off batter Kelsey Peedin and senior Logan Pace. After a strikeout and a fielder's choice erased Pace, Carroll stepped into the batter's box.

"When I saw (Peedin and Pace get hit), I thought free base, we get a chance to score," said Carroll, who admitted she was impatient and rolled her hands when she struck out and grounded out during her previous two at-bats.

This time, she delivered.

Carroll worked Brogden to a 1-1 count. Brogden failed to locate her next pitch and Carroll slapped it to deep left field. Pace and Brianna Myers scored to make it 2-0.

"We needed some runs, I got up there and told myself I could hit," Carroll said. "(The pitch) was a little outside and she left it a little over the plate, it was a meatball."