Empire softball honors seniors as regular season winds down

In their last home games of the regular season the Empire Lady Bulldogs split games with Fletcher and Velma-Alma on Monday. 

It has been a solid year for the Lady Bulldogs under first-year coach Tayler Moore. Empire has a winning record with games at Ringling and Mountain View-Gotebo next week. The district tournament pairings will be announced this week.

The team seems to be coming together at the right time based on their performance the past few weeks.

“They’ve been doing great,” Moore said. “They’ve been really maturing at the plate. They’ve been trying to work through each pitch. They try to take it all in at once sometimes and they get a  little excited, but we’ve been working through taking everything one pitch at a time at the plate and the field.”

There are other aspects as well.

“They’ve got a good team bond, so they just keep pushing forward,” Moore said.

The coach is also happy where her team is at in her first year.

“Absolutely, they continue to show up and show out to the best of their ability, that’s all I can ask,” Moore said. 

The coach said there have been some key players leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs’ success the past few weeks.

“Raylee Blackburn is a senior, so she’s taken that role seriously,” Moore said. “She always shows up ready to play and tells me to not take her out.  Laynie Johnson at shortstop is really coming along with the hustle and diving for the ball, and whether she is in the field or at the plate, she is ready to execute. She actually got the winning run against Wayne last week on a tag and slid into home to secure the win. Chanlie Rochell has stepped up. She’s a freshman that moved from right to center, and she’s really been making that work for us, shifting positions, whether it be left or right and with her running. She’s quick and has been a key player for us as young as she is.”

The win over Wayne last Thursday was on Senior Night for the Lady Bulldogs. They honored the team’s five seniors before the game.

It took a couple of extra innings, but Empire got the win by pushing the winning run across the plate on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, but put up five runs to take a 6-4 lead. Empire took advantage of a few Wayne miscues to get the lead.

Wayne would not go quietly. They tied the game with two runs in the top of the seventh and with Empire unable to answer in the bottom half of the seventh, the game went into extra innings.

In the bottom of the 10th,   Laynie Johnson led off with a single, went to second on a fielder’s choice and reached third on a passed ball. That’s all Ashtin Anderson would need as she hit a fly ball to right field that allowed Johnson to beat the tag at the plate for the win.

Empire had seven hits in the game with Kylie Lemons, Braylie Harris and  Johnson collecting two each with Johnson getting a triple. Anderson had the other hit in the game, a double.

Raylee Blackburn went the distance on the mound for Empire, giving up 10 hits and three earned runs. She struck out nine and walked two.

Fletcher broke open a 7-all tie in the top of the sixth and made it stick as they escaped with the one-run win.

The game went back-and-forth with the teams swapping the lead twice. 

The game was tied at 4-all after four innings before Fletcher put up three runs in the top of the fifth.

The Lady Bulldogs responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Chanlie Rochell scored on a passed ball and Kylie Lemons and Chazli Massey scored on an error to tie the game. 

Fletcher would push the winning run across in the sixth inning to get the win.

Massey, Lemons and Kendie Rochell accounted for six of Empire’s seven hits in the game with two hits each. Braylie Harris had the other hit for the Lady Bulldogs. 

Blackburn was the losing pitcher, surrendering 12 hits and five earned runs. She struck out two and walked none.

An error by Velma-Alma in the bottom of the third allowed what would be the winning run. Chazli Massey had walked to lead off the inning. Three batters later, Massey scored from second base on a ball to right field off the bat of Braylie Harris that was misplayed. It would be the only error in the game for Velma-Alma.

That would be all starting pitcher Raylee Blackburn would need as she shut the Lady Comets down the final two innings to get the win.

Empire had scored three runs each in the first and second innings to take a 6-2 lead, but Velma-Alma tied the game with four runs in the top of the third.

Blackburn also helped her cause at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Ashtin Anderson was 3-for-3 with an RBI and Laynie Johnson was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Chazlie Massey and Kylie Lemons also collected hits and scored twice each.

Blackburn gave up 10 hits and two earned runs. She struck out two and walked none.