Two more wins on Saturday pushed the South Adams Starfires to 15-1 on the year as they won the Scott Bishop Softball Invitational at Garrett High School, beating Manchester in the opener and the host Railroaders in the finals.
Now boasting a 13-game win streak, the Starfires got outstanding pitching from both Gracy Bixler and Addie Baker. Coach Jessie O’Dell chose to use both girls in both games, and the strategy worked well. The two hurlers allowed just six hits across their 14 innings of work and just one earned run.
In the game against Manchester, Baker set down the Squires’ lineup in order the first time through, striking out seven in those three innings of work. That inspired the Starfire bats for a big rally in the bottom of the third, where Tessa Bernard capped a four-run rally to put the team up 5-0.
Manchester finally got a hit in the fourth to put runners on the corners, but Baker got another strikeout to avoid any trouble and then threw a perfect fifth.
With a 5-0 lead, Bixler came in for Baker and she struck out the side in the top of the seventh to end the game.
In the championship against Garrett, Macy Pries, Bekah Patterson and Avery Brown each had two hits.
Bixler started the game in the circle and used the strikeout to get herself out of early trouble, including a bases-loaded jam in the second inning.
The two teams went into the fifth inning scoreless, but South Adams got a single from the bottom of the lineup in Brown, turning it over to Macy Pries, who reached on an error to knock in the game’s first run. Shea Alberson knocked in Pries to double the lead.
Bixler hit the first batter in the bottom of the fifth and then allowed two singles, signaling to coach O’Dell that it was time for a change and Addie Baker came in to get out of the jam. An error allowed the inherited runners to score, but Baker got one of her seven strikeouts to end the threat.
Baker struck out the side again in the sixth and Brown once again reached base to set up Pries for an RBI single, giving the Starfires the lead again. Another Garrett error extended the top of the seventh to Sofia Schwartz and she knocked in her team-leading 27th run of the year to give her team a 5-2 lead.
The Starfires claimed the team title with two strikeouts by Baker and a pickoff by Schwartz, beating the Railroaders 5-2 for the trophy.