Williams High School batters stepped up to the plate on Monday night. Most, however, didn’t stay for long. Chapel Hill’s starting pitcher Channing Clark was unhittable in the team’s game against Williams. She retired 17 of 21 batters faced via the strikeout, leading her team to a 10-0 shutout victory over Williams. After surrendering a leadoff walk, Clark retired the next seven batters in a row, all by way of striking out. Williams head coach Kaitlyn Reavis-Herbin said the team did not have a strong approach while facing Clark.
“We just weren’t hitting,” Reavis-Herbin said. “We didn’t have but one strikeout on Friday. So some days you’re on and some days you’re just not.”
Williams’ sophomore starting pitcher Caroline Conner gave up a leadoff single to center fielder Abby Klemm, who proceeded to steal second and third base. She scored the first run of the game, capitalizing on an error made by Conner.
Conner got the next two batters to ground out to third baseman Jordan Page. These were the first of nine putouts on the night for Page. Reavis-Herbin said she can always rely on her to make a play.
“JP never gets nervous, and if she does, she definitely wouldn't let anybody on the field know it,” Reavis-Herbin said. “She's very calm. She's very sturdy. The hardest hit ball, she actually plays significantly better than slow ones.”
As a returning member on a team riddled with freshmen, Reavis-Herbin has relied on Page to captain the infield.
“It's really good for her to be leading the infield full of underclassmen, because they see like, ‘Hey, if I work at this, that's what I can look like,’” Reavis-Herbin said. “Especially my left side, with my freshman shortstop, Aubrey. I think that a lot of them are kind of settling in because JP is such a force at third base and keeps the infield up to par.”
Conner gave up two four-pitch walks in the bottom of the second, both of which came around to score, as the Tigers began to pull away with a 4-0 lead. In the top of the third, Conner worked two quick outs as both of the batters grounded out to Page. But the Tigers continued to pounce, scoring four runs on four singles, a walk and an error. She was able to pitch her first scoreless frame in the top of the fourth, thanks to a key double play facilitated by none other than Page. Chapel Hill shortstop Alexandra Duncan, who worked a walk, made an error on the basepaths, running to second with no outs on a popup to Page. Seeing this, Page quickly threw to her first baseman to secure the double play.
Page continued being a lock on defense in the top of the fifth, beginning a 5-3-4 double play and applying a tag at third to catch Alondra Contreras Roy stealing.
“She's definitely our defensive star player right now,” Reavis-Herbin said.
Conner would surrender one more run in the top of the sixth off of Clark’s RBI triple. Clark shut down the Williams offense for the final inning, getting all three batters to strike out swinging to earn the 10-0 victory.
Williams will face off against Western Alamance at 5 p.m on March 4. Reavis-Herbin said the team is going to use the opportunity to try different defensive alignments with the freshmen roster.
“We're really just looking tomorrow to just draw some new positions out and just kind of see some of these younger girls, where they can play and where they're interested in playing,” Reavis-Herbin said.