Lady Falcons down Lakewood in region games
By Will Isgett, Contributing Writer
The success of any varsity team comes from the building blocks of the junior varsity program. The Darlington High School junior varsity softball teams have produced a multitude of talented players that have gone onto play for the successful Lady Falcon varsity team.
“By having a JV program it gives us a chance to let the younger players play,” Wiley said. “We’ve got some great talent on that team that will hopefully be varsity players one day.”
Against Lakewood last week the JV team earned a 12-0 win over the visiting Gators. The game was called in two innings due to Lakewood arriving late to Darlington.
The JV ladies jumped on Lakewood in the second inning on base clearing triple by Ryanne Weatherford.
Weatherford was also the winning pitcher striking out two and giving up only one hit.
The varsity team used two pitchers and steady hitting to down the Gators 10-1.
Even though the Lady Falcons improved to 2-0 in region 6-3A head coach Tim Wiley said the young team still has things to work on.
“We got a good win but we still have a lot of things to work on,” Wiley said. “We got a good team overall but to beat the Hartsville’s and the Marlboro Counties we’ve got to be more disciplined at the plate.”
At the plate eighth grader Chloe Hicks led Darlington going 2-for-2 with two RBI’s while Kirsten Stone went 2-for-4 that included a belting shot to the right field fence in the fourth inning.
Lakewood took an early 1-0 lead but the Falcons struck back in the second inning plating six runs.
In that inning, the Lady Falcons had six hits highlighted by Haley Clark’s double to left that gave Darlington a 6-1 lead.
Adrianna Weatherford, a Florence-Darlington Tech signee, picked up the win on the mound pitching three inning giving up two hits and striking out two.
Bailey Yarborough took the mound in the fourth inning and held the Lady Gators scoreless while striking out five.
Both teams play host to South Florence on March 26 with the junior varsity game starting at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity to follow.
