Addison Harris and Enka beat Cox Mill, 12-2, in Tuesday’s third round of the NCHSAA 3-A softball playoffs.
CANDLER – Enka started off quickly Tuesday night for its second straight mercy-rule victory in the 3-A state softball playoffs.
The Sugar Jets (21-3) scored three runs in the first inning to beat Cox Mill, 12-2, and advance to Friday’s fourth round.
After Cox Mill (19-7) responded by cutting the lead to 3-1 in the top of the third, Enka senior Addison Harris stretched the lead back to three with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning.
Ahead 4-1, Enka then poured on four runs in each of the next two innings to force a mercy rule by the end of the fifth inning.
Enka’s No. 3 through No. 6 hitters – Addison Harris, Mariah Foxworth, Payton Trantham, and Dani Harris – went a combined 10-for-10 in the game, batting in 11 of the 12 runs for the Sugar Jets.
Alabama recruit Kloyee Anderson went 1-for-2, but contributed from the basepaths by scoring three runs.
For Cox Mill, Chelsea DiGregorio led the way with a double and two RBIs, while Paysia Reed and Kristen Stafford both went 3-for-3 in the losing effort.
Enka, the defending state 3-A champion, looks to be on pace to make another run to the final as the fourth round approaches, having won its first three playoff games by a combined 28 runs. However, coach Jennifer Kruk would not allow herself to think ahead.
“We look one game at a time, so right now we are looking at Friday. Hopefully we get past there, and then we can talk about the next week, and then the next week,” Kruk said.
Despite the lack of adversity throughout the start of the playoffs, Kruk felt that her team was still prepared for what came next.
“We’ve had close games during the season, so I think we’re hopefully starting to peak at the right time of the year,” said Kruk.
“We’ve really been concentrating on working on some things hitting-wise, and working on some things that weren’t working, and I think that we finally tweaked a few things.”
For now, the cliche holds true that the Sugar Jets will look to take it one game at a time.
“Right now, (winning state) is not a goal; every time we have a game it’s different. Today was to be 3-0, because we decided we started our season over when playoffs started. Right now our next goal is to be 4-0,” added Kruk.
Enka will either host Crest or travel to South Point on Friday as the Sugar Jets look to continue the run towards to their third-ever state title in fast-pitch play.
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