Fort Mill softball strong in most aspects in first 2 games

With near flawless pitching and some timely hitting, the Fort Mill softball team has started the season on the right note.

Fort Mill beat a highly competitive Boiling Springs team 6-2 and turned around to beat Indian Land 10-4 in back-to-back games to start the 2018 season 2-0.

In their game against Boiling Springs, Fort Mill was led by Bella Roy, who allowed four hits and pitched a complete game, while striking out six and walking just two. At the plate, Lauren Collie went 2-2 with a double and two RBI, while Payton Lemire went 1-3 with a home run to lead the Jackets.

Fort Mill scored four runs in the fourth against Boiling Springs and took a 5-0 lead into the fifth innings. Boiling Springs didn’t get its first hit of the game until the fifth inning before tacking on a couple runs later.

“We have been working on creating runs,” said Jackets’ head coach Chuck Stegall. “I couldn’t be more proud of how we started.”

Against Indian Land, Fort Mill struggled early on as the Warriors scored two runs the first inning, as Roy had trouble with her command. The Jackets would eventually right the ship and Roy would again pitch a complete game three-hitter, striking out 13 despite walking six.

“It took some time for us to settle in and they made some errors,” Stegall said.

Fort Mill added a run in the first inning and then used another rally in the fifth and sixth innings when the Jackets scored five runs on six hits. At the plate, Fort Mill was led by Lemire, who went 2-4 with a double and three RBI and Emma Skovran, who went 3-4 with an RBI. Marissa McDermott, Brynn Bartolini also added RBIs in the win.

One aspect of Fort Mill’s game in the early going that has been a struggle is its defense with three errors in each of the two games.

Up next for the Jackets are three more games this week with games against Northwestern at home, while they hit the road to play White Knoll and Clover this week as well.

This story was originally published March 11, 2018 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Fort Mill softball strong in most aspects in first 2 games."