West Bladen 5, West Brunswick 1  Softball
 
Freshman Nicole Wyatt and junior Abbey Walters combined on a 2-hitter as West Bladen's Lady Knights moved into sole possession of first place in the Waccamaw Conference with a 5-1 victory over visiting West Brunswick Friday night.
 
The victory was No. 12 in a row for Coach Pam Stephens' Lady Knights who improved to 7-2 in the Waccamaw and 17-2 overall. West Brunswick drops into second place at 6-3 and 7-8 overall.
 
Wyatt, the winning pitcher, started in the circle and retired the first 12 batters that she faced with an assortment of change-ups and breaking stuff. Dez Avallone pulled a single into rightfield for the first Lady Trojan hit leading off the fifth inning. Alyssa Chappell ripped a triple into right-centerfield to drive in Avallone and trim the Lady Knight lead to 3-1.
 
Walters relieved with no outs and a runner at 3rd base and stranded the runner by striking out 2 batters and retiring the other one on a pop-up to secondbaseman Courtney Thompson. Walters retired the visitors in order in the last 2 innings to pick up the save with 3 scoreless, hitless innings and 4 strike-outs.
 
The Lady Knights jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning. Sophomore Taylor Stephens reached base on an error and stole second base. With 2 outs, junior Erica Tanner smashed a slicing double past the Lady Trojan leftfielder to drive in Stephens.
 
Walters smacked a single to lead off the West Bladen third inning. Junior Danielle Dove beat out a bunt single, and two outs later Wyatt drilled a line drive to right-centerfield that drove in Walters. Dove dashed all the way home from first base on the play as the ball was bobbled in the outfield.
 
After West Brunswick trimmed the margin to 3-1 in the fifth, West Bladen answered in the bottom half. Walters walked, and Dove belted a single to rightfield. Two outs later the Lady Trojan secondbaseman bobbled Wyatt's grounder, allowing Walters to race home from 2nd base and stretch the Lady Knight lead to 4-1.
 
With one out in the sixth, junior catcher Kaitlyn Sykes slammed a shot off the Lady Trojan shortstop for an infield hit. Stephens laced a single to centerfield, and one out later, Dove beat out a perfect bunt down the third baseline to load the bases. Tanner was hit by a pitch to force in Sykes with the final West Bladen run.
 
Dove turned in a 3-4 game at the plate and scored a run to lead the Lady Knight hitters. Tanner slammed the double and collected 2 runs batted in. Wyatt was 1-3 with 2 rbi's. Sykes, Coleman, Thompson, Walters and Stephens added one hit each. Walters scored twice, and Stephens and Sykes scored one run each.