The Faith Christian softball team knows how to put together big innings.
The Lions proved that on Monday, using a 10-run first inning to cruise to a three-inning 18-3 victory over visiting Plumstead Christian in a Bicentennial Athletic League contest.
The Panthers actually scored first. Maddie Edgerton led off the game with a triple and scored on a wild pitch to give Plumstead a 1-0 lead.
It was quickly erased by Faith’s 10-run explosion. The Lions added three runs in the second and five in the third to seal the win.
Plumstead tried to chip away at the lead, adding two runs in the top of the third, but could not get enough going on offense.
Faith Christian center fielder Alexis Reed went 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
“They scored first, and we don’t let the little things bother us,” said Reed, a junior. “That’s one of the things about this team. We don’t let things fluster us. We come back ready to attack. I think that’s been our biggest thing this year, especially with such a young team. We’re ready to play.
“We came back with a lot of runs and that shows how well we were able to handle the situation.
“We’re young, but I think we have the talent to go pretty far and that will be a good experience for us when we come back next year.”
Cheyenne Greene went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs, Sammi Snyder went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Natalia Schmidt, Gianna Campagna and Aubrey Pringle each had an RBI single and Sierra Lowry had a base hit to round out the day for the Lions.
Winning pitcher Kamryn Pepkowski gave up two hits, struck out eight, walked three and hit one batter.
“We have a young team but as the year has progressed, we’ve gotten to know each other better,” said Pepkowski, a junior who also plays basketball for the Lions. “We’ve gotten a lot better. Coming into this year, knowing that we lost a lot of good people from last year, I wasn’t sure how we’d be this year but my expectations have definitely changed from the beginning to now. I see good things from us.”
Junior Madison Lentz catches for Pepkowski.
“Kamryn is great to catch,” said Lentz, who singled in the game. “We get along really well. We’ve known each other since preschool. She’s so encouraging and always ready to lift people up. She’s such a good pitcher. She always hits the spots.
“Our team may be young but everyone is a hard worker. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how we were going to do but now that I’ve seen how hard everyone works and how dedicated they are and how much they love the sport, I have a lot of confidence in us that we can go far this year.”
Olivia Lawrence had an RBI single for Plumstead Christian. Pitcher Olivia Incudine, a sophomore, struck out three and walked four.
Plumstead first baseman Maddie Shackelford walked in the third inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
“We have very young team,” said Shackelford, the only senior on the squad and the team’s captain. “We have mostly freshmen. We have a couple of sophomores and no juniors. These girls are not new to softball, and they’ve played together before, but they’re new to the high school.
“I think we can win some more games and possibly make it to districts. We’ve got a lot of talent and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
Shackelford also played volleyball for Faith Christian and will continue her volleyball career at Cairn, where she will study secondary math education.
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