As Eastern Alamance Softball’s Brylea Warren celebrated her way into the dugout after her trip around the bases, her teammates greeted her with more than just high-fives. The Eagles dugout crowned the lead-taking home run hitter with a sombrero. To the team, this has become a tradition.
“It’s just like a celebration,” Warren said. “Something fun.”
But Warren wasn’t the only one having fun tonight. Eastern Alamance had three players put on the sombrero tonight with 12 hits in Tuesday night’s 17-1 victory against Person High School.
Coming off a long-fought win in extra innings just the night before, it was no surprise that the Eagles started this game on the slower side. In the first inning, the Rockets took an early lead with 1-0 on a run batted in double by Kenzley Horne. Coach Randy Ballard admits that he may be at fault for the slow start, but that momentum is what fueled his team as the game progressed.
“We were so fired up last night, I calmed them down too much,” Ballard said. “I just kind of let them do their thing, but it only takes one of them to get them going.”
After their scoreless first inning, the Eagles scored four runs in the second thanks to a two-run shot by Warren followed by Kayden Manning going deep just three batters later.
“I just think when one person starts it off, we just keep rolling,” Manning said.
After the energy had completely shifted in Eastern Amalance’s favor, Delani Straughan on the mound kept the Person bats quiet in the top of the third to bring the Eagles back on offense. Then, one thing led to another with a couple base hits and Eastern Alamance’s Olivia Foster found herself looking up from the plate at bases loaded on zero outs.
“If our energy is high and we're doing good, we stay on it,” Foster said.
And on the next pitch, the energy was high enough for the junior slugger. The top-of-the-zone fastball was met swiftly by Foster’s bat and was sent straight out of Eastern Athletic Field as her teammates were already lined up by home plate to celebrate the grand slam. The Eagles were up 8-1.
Once Foster opened the scoring in the third inning, the Eagles simply could not stop. An RBI single from Rachel Byrd immediately set up an RBI double from Addison Hester, and after the first two outs of the inning were finally called, the Eagles lineup had already circled back to the catalyst of it all: Olivia Foster.
As impressive as the RBI single was as it gapped its way into left field, especially after her grand slam in the same inning, Foster was seen shrugging it off.
“I think we’re all pretty humble,” Foster said. “I just feel like we build off each other.”
In three innings, the Eastern Alamance Eagles won 17-1 against the Person rockets on March 4.
Once the Eagles loaded the bases for the third time, a dropped catch in left field added enough runs onto the scoreboard for the umpires to call the game, putting Eastern Alamance on top with 17-1 in just three innings.
With their eyes on a playoff run after the dominant victory, Ballard says that in order to improve, it’s important for the team to focus on the fundamentals. With talented pitchers to face in the future, he emphasizes how important it is to work on timing.
“After tonight, we’ll start back tomorrow and go back to the fundamentals,” Ballard said. “That’s what we are going to work on, just going back to fundamentals, seeing different speeds, and doing timing drills.”
The Central Davidson Spartans are up next for Eastern Alamance at 10:30 a.m. March 8.