COLUMBIA – The Westwood softball team made some errors that kept Ridge View alive in the early innings, but the Redhawks bats kept coming around in a 14-6 victory over their Region III-4A rivals Tuesday night at Ridge View.
Westwood banged out 14 hits and more than made up for fielding gaffes that didn’t affect starting pitcher Marlena Perez.
“I’m pleased with them and pleased with the way we’ve improved over the last couple of games,” Steve Cruz said. “A lot of it has been playing the top teams and seeing how the game of softball should be played, what the pace is like, the rhythm is like. It’s a good experience.”
The Lady Redhawks bats were on fire Tuesday night against Ridge View. Westwood tallied 14 runs on 13 hits. | Leroy Howard
Perez had another solid performance on the mound. The Westwood pitcher scattered six hits, striking out seven, walking three, and hitting one batter.
“You can’t do nothing without pitching,” Cruz said. “With her being young, you’ve got to give it to her, for her work today and every time she comes to the mound. She puts 100 percent in.”
Ridge View starter Rosa Carrasou struck out six and walked one in her 4 1/3 innings of work, but the middle of the Redhawks lineup gave her a pounding over that span.
Westwood jumped to a 6-3 lead by the fourth inning, scoring six runs on eight hits over the first two innings, while the Blazers got two runs in the first and one in the second.
Ridge View held the Redhawks scoreless in the third and fourth innings, and came up with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Redhawks’ lead to 6-5.
Westwood responded with a 3-run fifth and a 5-run sixth to put the game out of reach.
Koreena Scott led off the fifth with a solid double, and later scored the first run on Brionna King’s one-out single.
King’s hit chased Carrasou from the mound in favor of Aniaya Price. With one out, King at first and Ihyanna Cruz at third, Price hit Cayla Petty to load the bases, then hit Sydney Kinney to score Cruz for the second run.
King scored the third and final run of the frame when she came home on Perez’s infield fielder’s choice.
Deltrice Holmes struck out to retire the side in the fifth, but Westwood was up 9-5 and kept the hits and runs coming in the sixth.
Kendall Counts got things started with an RBI single with no out and two on. Later, with one out and the bases loaded, Counts scored the second run of the inning off Cayla Petty’s single.
Kinney drove in Cruz and King on a ground double down the leftfield line to make it 13-5.
With two out, Petty came home on a wild pitch to Holmes for Westwood’s 14th run. Holmes struck out again, but the Redhawks’ lead proved insurmountable.
Ridge View got a run on two hits and an error in the bottom of the seventh, but Carrasou’s comebacker to Perez on the mound closed out the night.
Westwood plays host to Richland Northeast Thursday before going on spring break.
WHS – 3-3-0-0-3-5-0-14 – 3 – 6
RVHS – 2-1-0-2-0-0-1 – 6 – 6 – 2
WP: Marlena Perez LP: Rosa Carrasou
HITTING: Ridge View – Jamya Taylor 3B. Westwood – Sydney Kinney 4-4, 2B. Cayla Petty 2-3, 2B. Brianna King 2-3, 2B. Marlena Perez 2B. Coreena Scott 2-5, 2B.
Koreena Scott…not Coco..not Coreena