3A PLAYOFFS: Aycock squeezes Orange from postseason

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on May 22, 2016 1:47 AM

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jhayes@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- By the way of standard Hollywood fare, it was Sister Act versus Terminator: Rise of the Orange.

Charles B. Aycock (26-1 overall), used a medley of patience, poise and family pride Friday evening to dispense powerful Hillsborough Orange, 7-5, in third round play of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A softball playoffs.

The victory -- and atmosphere -- was pure theatre.

Allie Phillips, a week removed from a two-hit outing versus Triton, was again solid in the circle for Aycock. Facing a moody, volatile Orange lineup, the senior crafted a gem, allowing five runs on seven hits to collect her 10th complete-game of the spring.

Her record now stands at 9-1 on the season.

Phillips opened the proceedings with a walk of Orange junior Mia Davidson, who entered the contest batting an absurd .740 on the season. The lefty artfully dodged the slugger all night, never allowing her the opportunity to pad her season-long home run total of 18.

"She's batting over .700," Aycock skipper Lavon Matthews said. "I'd already decided that she was not going to beat us tonight."

Aycock heated up offensively in the second inning, getting a pair of two-out RBI hits from sophomore Cassandra Lassiter and catcher Abbie Walton. The burst foreshadowed their effort, but also a rough night for Orange starter Kristina Givens, who allowed seven runs on six hits inside the circle.

But the drama was really just beginning.

In a bizarre third frame, Aycock plated four runs on just a single hit and ignited Pikeville Nation into a frenzy. The inning -- and night, for that matter -- was a personal star-turn for the duo of Lassiter and Walton, who each registered two RBI as part of a combined 3-for-5 performance at the plate.

Walton also made her mark in the field, deep-sixing Orange base runners on three separate occasions with frozen-rope daggers to second base.

Montana Davidson, however, refused to let Orange go quietly.

The Mississippi State-bound senior, who previously took a Phillips offering over the left-field fence in the fourth, doubled in the sixth inning to trim the Aycock advantage to a deuce. Her effort -- part of a powerful 2-for-4, 4-RBI performance -- set the stage for the night's final act, presided over by Phillips.

With the bases loaded and the whole of Pikeville on her shoulders, the lefty generated a lightning-fast, 1-2 force at home. As the partisan crowd raged, she induced a pop fly off the bat of Alysann Lloyd, which was snared by Hannah Vinson in shallow center field.

Ball game.

Aycock's victory -- a comprehensive, by-any-means-necessary performance -- featured balance, patience and a spirit that exuded textbook teamwork.

"This is not a one-player team," Matthews noted. "Everybody's got a role, and if they play their role, we can be successful."

"We're a team. A family."