Huntland's Bella Smith steps forward to deliver a pitch during a game Monday against Grundy County High School. Smith pitched a perfect game with 11 strikeouts in the 10-0 win.
Huntland's Bella Smith steps forward to deliver a pitch during a game Monday against Grundy County High School. Smith pitched a perfect game with 11 strikeouts in the 10-0 win.
The Huntland High School Lady Hornets beat the Grundy County Lady Jackets 10-0 at home Monday for their third win of the season.
Freshman Bella Smith pitched a perfect game for the Lady Hornets as they pulled away on the scoreboard early and wrapped up the victory after five innings.
Huntland head softball coach Michael Tipps said that Smith did a great job to shut down Grundy County for the entire contest.
“The ball’s got a lot of movement on it,” he said, referring to her pitches. “Her curveball was working pretty well today, and she’s keeping the ball down in the zone. When you do that, even if it is a strike and they’re swinging, you’re not going to hit that ball too hard.”
Tipps also said that his offense performed well overall for the day despite a slight lull midway through the shortened contest.
“We came out swinging the bats pretty well. In the middle innings, I thought we expanded our strike zone a little bit and started swinging at a few pitches out of the zone,” he said. “In the last inning, we got back to doing what we were doing in the first inning.”
The Lady Hornets got off to a fast start as they scored four runs in the bottom of the first. Smith hit an RBI triple to help her own cause, Hadley Gardner followed with an RBI single before later scoring on a throwing error and Jocy May crossed home plate following a wild pitch.
The Lady Hornets added two more runs to their tally in the second inning as May hit a two-run double to make it a 6-0 game.
Following a scoreless third inning, the Lady Hornets struck for four more runs in the bottom of the fourth with Gardner hitting a two-run home run, Camerin Davis recording an RBI infield single and Lily Jackson adding an RBI single to bring the deficit up to double digits.
Smith closed out her perfect game with three more outs in the top of the fifth as the mercy rule brought an end to the contest early. She struck out 11 of the 15 batters she faced in the game with two groundouts and two fly outs also being induced for the day.
With the win, the Lady Hornets improved to 3-2 on the season.
They will next play Thursday at home against Moore County High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
