Lady Knights bombard Mustangs in season opener
Webster – Everywhere you looked, Monday’s season opener for the Robbinsville Lady Knights was nothing but positive.
A 12-run top of the first ended things before they really got started for Smoky Mountain (0-2), as Robbinsville almost batted around twice in its first offensive series of the year. The Knights’ pitching took care of the rest in a 5-inning, 14-2 drubbing of the hosting Lady Mustangs on Monday.
The massive opening frame saw Robbinsville (1-0) score 11-of-its-12 runs with two outs.
Zoie Shuler had bunted her way aboard on the first pitch of the Lady Knights’ season, swiped second and third, and dashed home on a shallow pop-out by Suri Watty. Sophie Roberts then popped out and Smoky Mountain was one out away from escaping the inning relatively unscathed.
Then the floodgates opened.
A trio of errors allowed Presley Caylor, courtesy runner Sydney Adams and Memory Frapp to score. Shuler later doubled in Dreylee Webster and Liz Carpenter, before Watty, Naomi Taylor and Frapp later roped three different two-run singles to fill out the romp.
The Lady Mustangs swapped pitchers once the bleeding stopped, with Robbinsville only striking twice more in the shortened affair. Roberts led off the top of the third with a solo homer, while Shuler tripled in Anna Williams with one out in the fourth.
Taylor got the starting nod, allowing just one hit while striking out five in four innings of work. Caylor entered the circle for the fifth and posted a pair of strikeouts, but Smoky Mountain got its lone offensive volley in the closing moments: a two-out, two-run double from the bat of Abby Branning.
Robbinsville travels to Enka for a 5 p.m. game today, before holding its home opener at 4 p.m. Friday against Polk County.