The Hillsboro Hawks (7-5) took to the road to take on the North County Raiders (3-6) Wednesday night. The Hawks took the lead early and never looked back, posting a 12-0 shutout win.
The Hawks came into Wednesday night’s game on a run of four consecutive wins, the most recent of which was a 16-1 blowout of the DeSoto Dragons. On the other hand, the Raiders had lost three of their previous four games, most recently suffering a 12-2 loss against Perryville on Tuesday.
The Hawks decided to hand the starting pitching assignment to Senior Alex Wick, who, coming into Wednesday night, had a team-high of 36 innings pitched while posting an ERA of 2.72 and a WHIP of 1.17. Junior Emilie Morgan started for the Raiders.
Hillsboro set the tone right from the top of the first, immediately taking the lead. The first runs were scored on a bases-loaded single from Sara Stokes, driving in two runs. Wick grounded out to bring home one more run, then back-to-back RBI singles from Nicole Evans and Ryleigh Hindle made the score 5-0.
In the top of the second, the Hawks put one more on the board to extend their lead. Hailey Genge lead off the inning with a double, and an error hit off the bat of Abby Clay drove her home. There was more of the same from Hillsboro in the third as it extended its lead again thanks to an RBI double from Lauren Nichols, making the score 7-0.
By the bottom of the fourth inning, Wick was continuing to keep the Raider bats silent. Wick gave up one hit in the first inning and had not allowed one since. In fact, the only base runner she allowed was in the fourth inning via error.
The Hawks bats struck again in the top of the fifth inning. Hillsboro got two runners on to start the inning, with Wick hitting a single and Evans reaching via error. Both then proceeded to score on a double from Alanah Dunphy, making the score 9-0.
The final nail in the coffin for the Raiders came in the sixth when again the Hawks extended their lead. Singles from Avery Dean and Maya LaPlante brought home three runs to take a 12-0 lead, and after a shutout bottom half from Wick… the win.
Wick received her first win of the season for her dominant shutout effort Wednesday night. She went six innings giving up one hit, no runs, no walks and striking out eight. On the other side, Morgan got tabbed with the loss after going six innings giving up 17 hits, 12 runs (eight earned), one walk and striking out four.
First baseman Genge had a dominant day at the plate for Hillsboro, going 3-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. The only other Hawk with multiple hits was leadoff hitter Dunphy, who went 2-4 with two RBIs and a double.
Stokes and Dean both had two RBIs on the night. Stokes went 1-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Dean had a pinch-hit single in the sixth inning to give her two RBIs.
This win gave the Hawks their fifth in a row and improved their record to 8-5 on the season.
