SPRING GARDEN – Spring Garden junior pitcher Abbey Steward and junior shortstop Neely Welsh are workout partners in the Panther weight room. On Thursday afternoon against Cedar Bluff, the duo worked over the Lady Tigers.
Steward tossed a one-hitter, and Welsh ended the game with a grand slam to left center field in the bottom of the fifth inning – her second walk-off hit in three days – in the Lady Panthers’ 13-0 softball victory.
“I knew if I just pitched my defense would be there to back me up. It makes my job easier knowing that they’re back there,” Steward said. “It’s pretty good pitching with the lead. It makes you feel more comfortable.”
Welsh said she’s glad to finally see her extra work is beginning to pay off.
“At the start of the season I wasn’t on. I just knew I had to work a little harder in the batting cage, and that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s kind of paid off. Now I see it happening,” she said.
Steward surrendered the Lady Tigers’ lone hit in the top of the first inning to leadoff batter and pitcher Jordyn Walker. Walker slapped a single to left, but Steward retired the next three Lady Tigers on pop outs.
The Lady Panthers (14-5) took the lead in the bottom half of the first. Avery Steward doubled to left and scored on a Welsh’s ground out to first. Welsh finished the game going 1-for-3 and drove in six of the Lady Panther runs. She also walked with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Spring Garden added a pair of unearned runs in the second to take a 3-0 lead, then sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth and scored four runs to increase their lead to 7-0. They tacked on the final six runs in the bottom of the fifth – highlighted by Welsh’s walk-off grand slam.
Welsh also had a walk-off double against Sand Rock on Tuesday.
“She’s been hitting better lately,” Spring Garden coach and Welsh’s mother Ann Welsh said. “We’ve switched her a lot in the lineup a lot of places just to find one where we feel like she’s been hitting well. I haven’t been moving her (from batting cleanup). These last couple of games, she’s come up with some big hits to end the game. That (grand slam) was big and exciting.”
Steward’s performance was just as big. She allowed just two other Lady Tigers (5-13-1) to reach on walks – Maggie Clowdis in the top of the second and Emma Haney in the top of the fifth.
“I thought she did a good job pitching. She took control of the game,” Coach Welsh said. “They had a couple of hits, but our outfield was able to catch them. Other than that, she kept the ball low. I thought she had good control of the game.”
Madison Brown and Abbie Woods both had a pair of singles for the Lady Panthers. Layla Ingram added a two-run single in the fourth and walked to load the bases in the fifth. Ace Austin singled in a run in the fourth. Kayley Kirk walked twice and was hit by a pitch.
“We had a lot of contributions from everybody. You get that going and you feed off each other, then the runs will come,” Coach Welsh said.
