Middlesex’s bats explode in opening innings to topple Lady Panthers

Charles City's Casey Richardson hauls in a second inning pop fly to end the inning.

Andre' Jones photos

Charles City’s Lady Panthers head coach Lauren Wood admitted having a team of young players for a second consecutive year makes their season an uphill battle. That sentiment reflected in Tidewater District play in an April 22 contest against the Middlesex Lady Chargers.

The visitors exploded out the gates, registering seven runs in the first frame and four in the second before the Lady Panthers could reach the scoreboard as Middlesex cruised to a 20-4 victory.

Lady Charger Avis Keeling homered to lead off the game to commence the scoring festivities for the visitors. Eleven runs crossed the plate for the guests, before Charles City’s Hailey Holmes crossed the plate in the bottom of the second. Mary Black’s single drove home Sydney Richard to cut Middlesex’s lead to single digits (11-2) heading in the third inning.

But the Lady Chargers bats erupted again, thanks in part to a three-run homerun by Ali Bibee’s three-run homer in the top of the third returned a double-digit lead to the guests (14-2).

Black duplicated her second inning feat, driving in Richard for another run, but Middlesex rolled out five more runs in the top of the fourth to distance the gap to 15 (18-3).

Charles City’s last score came in the bottom of the fourth frame, when Adrienne Miles drew a walk to force home Krystle Jones. Meanwhile, Keeling’s second home run down the left field line accounted for the final tally in the game.

After the game, Wood spoke about the youth of this year’s Lady Panthers squad and the accountability of new players on the roster.

“It is a brand new group and we had a lot of freshmen coming in,” said the head coach. “We are working on communicating, and today, even with the score as it was, we didn’t get up.”

“We had players to fill positions they normally aren’t in,” continued Wood. “Offensively, we looked much better, but our defense is still a work in progress.”

Charles City falls to 0-6 (0-2 Tidewater District) for the year, while Middlesex improved to 3-2 (2-1).

Lady Panther Mary Black stretches out her arm to pull down a line drive to left field in the fifth inning.