Dennis Garcia

RANDLEMAN Gill Butler said his Randleman High School varsity softball team has been working very hard on hitting and it sure showed on a chilly Thursday night against Asheboro High School. Hallie Chisholm hit a grand slam to break a tie in the fifth inning and the Tigers would add three more runs that frame in rolling to a 12-3 nonleague win over the Blue Comets. Randleman evens its record at 1-1 on the season while it was the season opener for the Blue Comets, who are now under the direction of Ricky Martinez. While both teams struggled in the field each team committed six errors the Tigers were able to overcome those miscues as they banged out nine hits while taking advantage of the AHS mistakes. All three of the Blue Comets runs were unearned. We have been working on hitting a lot and we are in an in-season weight-lifting program, said Butler, who is in his first year at the RHS helm. It paid off tonight. We have seen two good pitchers so far and tonight we were able to catch up to her.

After the Blue Comets scored a pair of unearned runs in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3, RHS struck for seven runs on four hits. AHS committed three errors in the inning which made all the runs unearned. We just need to keep working, said Martinez, who spent the past seven seasons at SWR. It was our first game and we saw some things we need to work on. With one out, a pair of errors put Chloe Hicks and Courtney Lineberry on base before Megan Cottrell walked to load the bases. Chisholm hit the first pitch she saw over the left-field fence and cleared the bases, giving the Tigers a 7-3 lead. That was a big hit and we went up there with more confidence, Butler said. Singles by Carley Hughes and Karrie Price and another error re-loaded the bases for RHS and Lauren Fruitt ripped a three-run triple to make it 10-3. Hughes, who had three hits in the game, added a two-run homer in the sixth. Lineberry earned the win on the mound as she allowed just three hits over the first six innings and a total of five in the game. She walked four and fanned 11. I dont think we were as aggressive at the plate as we need to be, Martinez said. Were going to get better. AHS scored once in the first on two walks, an error and a RBI ground out from Adrianna Butler. RHS took a 3-1 lead in the third when Fruitt doubled, Lineberry walked and Cottrell delivered a two-run double before scoring on an error. AHS scored twice without a hit in the fifth with one scoring on an error and Saylor Wyland driving in one with a grounder. Five different players had one hit each for Asheboro, while Hughes had three and Fruitt and Price had two each for the Tigers.

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Tigers slam Blue Comets - Asheboro Courier Tribune