1A SOFTBALL: North Duplin evens regional series at 1-1

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 27, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

CALYPSO -- Runs had been scarce -- non-existent, in fact -- during North Duplin's previous three meetings against Princeton on the softball diamond.

And the trend continued for three innings Thursday evening.

The fourth inning?

A different story.

Rylee Pate drew a one-out walk, Shaily McCarty reached on an infield single and the Bulldog defense didn't cover first base as Haley Brogden legged out a base knock.

The rally was enthusiastically answered by airhorns and duck calls from the North Duplin student section behind the left-field fence.

A fielder's choice RBI from Alyssa Santos and Courtney Brock's RBI single gave North Duplin a 2-0 lead -- plenty of working room for pitcher Rylee Pate, who owned the strike zone all evening.

Pate tossed a one-hitter and the Rebels prevailed 2-1, which evened the best-of-three N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A eastern regional softball championship series at 1-all.

Game 3 is tonight at Princeton. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.

"We knew we had to come (tonight) and hit the ball, we knew our defense could handle them, but we had to get some hits," Santos said. "Once we got them moved around, we had to get them home."

Second-seeded North Duplin (21-4 overall) managed just four hits against Princeton's Hailey Wood -- who threw her own masterful game. The senior retired the first nine batters she faced, including five by strikeout.

Pate's walk and an infield throwing error gave the Rebels that slim opening they needed to break a string of 24 scoreless innings against their Carolina 1-A Conference rivals.

Princeton stopped the rally with an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play.

"It was big, I think, to score on them, but Hailey Wood has done a fantastic job for them," ND head coach Ricky Edwards said. "She's pitched extremely well. She's kept us off balanced at the plate. Tonight, we were able to put the bat on it a little bit and get a couple of runs."

The top-seeded Bulldogs couldn't solve Pate.

The righty adapted to the umpire's tight strike zone and effectively used every pitch in her arsenal. She retired nine Princeton batters on strikeouts, induced nine ground-ball outs, one infield pop-up and two shallow fly balls.

Wood reached on a third-inning walk, Megan Bryant advanced to second on an infield throwing error and Braswell slugged her team-leading fifth home run of the season.

"We just have to decide that we've got to hit the ball, hit it where she's throwing it instead of waiting for their pitch," Braswell said. "We've seen some good pitching (in the playoffs). We're making contact, we're just not making good hard hits and it's straight at somebody."

The Bulldogs (21-2) advanced to the old final four in 2011 and lost to Pamlico County in the eastern regional title game. They eventually finished third after an elimination-round loss to perennial powerhouse East Surry.

The Rebels, meanwhile, aren't about to hand over their either their eastern regional or state championship crown.

"We're not done," Santos said.