Christian Malone
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — Ashley Chapman dominated the Colquitt County lineup, and led Lowndes High’s softball team to a 1-0 victory on Tuesday at the Morris-Coats Field of Dreams.
Chapman threw a one-hit shutout, allowed only three baserunners and won a pitchers’ duel with Colquitt’s Hannah Hancock.
Chapman, a junior right-hander, allowed only three batters to reach base (one on a hit, one on a walk and one on an error), and struck out six batters. She took a no-hitter into the sixth, and retired 16 batters in a row at one point.
“Hat’s off to Chappy. She kept us in the game,” Lowndes head coach Alex Gray said. “Our pitching is always there.”
Hancock, a left-hander, allowed only one run and six hits, and struck out three.
Brittany Britt’s fourth-inning home run was the only run of the game. But it was all the Vikettes needed.
“Chappy was there with the pitching, and Brittany Britt was there with the offense,” Gray said.
For three innings, Chapman and Hancock traded zeroes on the scoreboard. The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth. Then Britt decided to change that.
Leading off the fourth, Britt jumped on a pitch from Hancock, and hit a long fly ball that sailed over the Chick-Fil-A sign in left center for a home run. Britt’s blast gave Lowndes a 1-0 lead.
“Brittany Britt came up huge, with a big-time hit,” Gray said.
Chapman held the Lady Packers hitless until Taylor Owens singled to center with two outs in the sixth. But when Owens tried to take second on the hit, Britt fired a strike to second baseman Allison Coulter, who tagged her out. That would be Colquitt’s only hit of the game.
Scoring opportunities were rare on Tuesday. Colquitt threatened in the top of the first, putting a runner on third with two outs, but Chapman struck out Jordan Taylor to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Lowndes’ Randi Smith walked and Chapman singled, putting two runners on base with two outs, but Hancock got out of the inning with a ground out to third. Coulter doubled with two outs in the sixth, but she was also stranded on the bases.
Chapman and Britt had two hits apiece for Lowndes.
Lowndes (5-4, 2-0 in Region 1-AAAAA) will travel to Valdosta on Thursday at 5:45 p.m.
