Montreat recruit Josie Harris and Reynolds are 4-0 after Friday’s 15-1 win at North Buncombe.
WEAVERVILLE – Reynolds softball remained undefeated Friday with a 15-1 win over North Buncombe.
The Rockets (4-0, 1-0) stormed past the Black Hawks (1-3, 0-1) with a six-run fourth inning and an eight-run fifth, eventually invoking the mercy rule at the end of the fifth inning.
The Rockets’ early success has been due to two main factors: experience and defense. The Rockets have not allowed more than two runs in any of their first four games; this is due in part to a third-year starting pitcher in Josie Harris and seniors occupying four-fifths of the infield.
“When you’ve got seven seniors out there on defense, you expect good things to happen. They know the game, and they’ve been playing together since they were little girls,” said coach Larry Brow. “Now, as a coach, I’m just sitting back and making sure they’re doing the details and the little things right. Other than that, I just stay out of the way and let them play ball.”
The freedom and chemistry that all the seniors provide has allowed the Rockets to play a loose style. Despite being tied 1-1 after three innings on Friday night, there was no doubt among the team that they would pull out a win. Sure enough, they batted in 14 runs in the next two innings and they were back on the bus in no time.
“Right now we’re playing good ball. We are both hitting the ball well and playing good defense. At this time of the year, it’s really exciting to see,” said Brow.
Sophomore Callie Harris led the way for Reynolds, going 3-4 with four RBIs. Sophomore Maitland Moore and seniors Averi Arrowood and Cami McLaughlin added two RBIs each, while senior Brentlie Holmes scored three runs. Senior Kaitlin D’Alessandro had the lone RBI for North Buncombe.
The winning pitcher for the Rockets was Harris. She has signed to play college softball for Montreat.
“Josie does a good job keeping the girls off-balance. She’s got a good changeup and a lot of movement on the ball. She doesn’t have a great amount of speed on the ball, but she moves the ball around and that helps our defense,” Brow said.
Friday night’s ball game was the first for both teams in conference play. Brow knows that Reynolds has unfinished business with last year’s MAC 3-A and state champion Enka Sugar Jets.
“Biggest competition is going to be Enka. We had them on the ropes last year, twice, and let it slip away,” said Brow.
While Enka was the biggest threat for the Rockets, Brow added that in such a long and unpredictable season, no opponent could be taken lightly.
“You really don’t know about any of these guys. You’ve got to be focused and ready to play every game. If you don’t, they’ll sneak up in you. We just don’t have a truly weak conference.”
The Rockets have blasted off to a 4-0 start, but this is just the beginning of the race for the MAC title. It is shaping up to be a very entertaining season.
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