Just 24 hours removed from North Pike senior Meredith Bates pitching a no-hitter and leading the Jaguars with two hits in a 2-0 road win over Stone to open the third round of the playoffs, it was Averi Paden’s turn to shine on Wednesday in Game 2.
The junior followed suit with a big day on the mound and at the plate helping to lead the Jaguars to a 5-0 decision at home to sweep the Tomcats. Paden went the full seven innings, striking out nine while going 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.
“I thought that she did a good job on the mound, (and) she only gave up seven hits,” North Pike head coach Sonya Wallace said of Paden. “She also did a good job with the bat.”
But in addition to Paden, Wallace wanted to shine some light on the rest of her offense, which bounced back after a relatively quiet night Tuesday at the plate.
“I thought that the girls came out and did a better job of putting the ball into play. We struggled down their Tuesday putting the ball into play on solid hits,” Wallace said. “We did much better. We had 10 hits compared to only the four on Tuesday.”
And while the Jaguars (19-8) struggled a bit getting their offense going early on, they broke through in the fourth to build a little bit of momentum.
A single from Paden was followed by a double from Alaia Crossley. Next up was Joli Spears, who reached on an error, allowing courtesy runner Tristen Tolar to score and giving the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
Paden ran into some trouble on the mound in the fifth when the Tomcats had two runners on. After maintaining her focus and picking up a strikeout, Paden made a heads up play, tagging out the lead Stone runner trying to race home to tie the game.
Holding on to the 1-0 lead, Paden picked up another strikeout in the sixth, part of a 1-2-3 inning for the Jaguars.
Then the bats came alive for North Pike. Sydney Williams and Paden led off with singles, with the latter resulting in the Jaguars’ second run.
Next up was Crossley, who delivered once again with an RBI double. Three batters later, Allei Reagan sent a pinch-hit double into center, bringing Crossley home before Emilie Williams followed suit during the ensuing at bat, making the score 5-0.
Stone put up a fight in the seventh, getting two on base via singles but Paden battled back, getting a pair of strikeouts to close out the contest as North Pike advance in the playoffs.
In addition to Paden, Crossely also had a big night with a pair of hits, an RBI and a run scored. Kaylea Wagner also recorded two hits for the Jaguars.
With the win, North Pike advances to Round 3 of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Jaguars will face Florence in a best-of-3 series for a shot to play for the South State title.
Game 1 of the series between the Jaguars and the Eagles begins Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Summit.
