BURGAW — The Knights dug themselves a 3-0 hole on the road Tuesday against Pender County, but rallied for a 5-4 Four County Conference win.
West Bladen improved to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
The Patriots put together a pair pf doubles and took advantage of a Knights error to open a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but West Bladen cut the deficit to 3-1 with a run in the top of the second when Scott Bowen walked, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Logan West’s sacrifice fly.
The Knights tacked on another run in the third when Hunter Pait walked, went to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a single by T.J. Guyton and came home on an RBI single from Jarrett Williams.
West Bladen knotted the game at 3-3 in the fourth when Logan West singled, stole second base and scored on an RBI single by Pait.
The Knights took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth when Weston Pidgeon walked and scored on an RBI double by Guyton. Moments later, Trent West lofted a sacrifice fly that brought Guyton home for a 5-3 advantage.
Pender County scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but could mount no more threats.
Caleb Sholar earned the win on the hills for West Bladen, hurling five innings and giving up four runs on six hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Bowen finished up to earn the save, going two innings and giving up no hits, one walk and fanning one.
At the plate, Guyton had a double and RBI; Trent West had an RBI; Logan West had an RBI; Pait had an RBI; Williams had an RBI.
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Softball
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In Elizabethtown on Tuesday, the Lady Eagles arose from an 11-2 deficit against visiting Heidi Trask with a six-run, sixth-inning rally, but it all came up short in a 13-8 Four County Conference loss.
East Bladen is now 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
The Lady Titans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, then added two more in the third and exploded for six runs in the fourth to open a 9-0 advantage. But the Lady eagles scored a run in the home half of the fourth on a double by Johanna Parker and RBI single by Majesti Corbett.
Trask plated two in the fifth, but East Bladen got one back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double from Izzy Smith.
The Lady Eagles batted around in the sixth inning and scored on and RBI groundout by Abby Cross, RBI single by Kayley Smith, RBI single by Izzy Smith and an RBI on a booted grounder off the bat of Parker to puul within 11-8.
But the Lady Titans added a pair of runs in the seventh to seal the win.
At the plate, Izzy Smith was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI; Corbett was 2-for-4 with an RBI; Faith Johnson was 2-for-5; Parker had a double and RBI; Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson was 1-for-3.
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Soccer
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In Elizabethtown on Tuesday, the Lady Eagles got a pair of goals from both Justyna Gargala and Hannah Devane to turn back visiting Heidi Trask in a 4-1 Four County Conference win.
East Bladen improved to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
Devane scored each of her goals in the first half — the first off an assist from Gargala, the second on a feed from Ashley Hardin — while Gargala’s first score came off a pass from Patience Ward and her second came on an unassisted shot in close.
The Lady Eagles outshot the visitors by a 29-6 margin.
East Bladen was scheduled to take on Wallace-Rose Hill in a conference match on the road Thursday.