Fort stomps Rockbridge

By Robert Sisk

Published: April 18, 2008

FORT DEFIANCE — The Fort Defiance softball team continued its dominance over the Southern Valley District on Friday afternoon against Rockbridge County.
With some help from a Rockbridge error-filled second inning, hot bats and powerful pitching performances from Brittany Davidson and Jessica Hogle, the No. 1 Indians charged to a 14-1 win.
“I liked it because everybody hit. The bats came alive,” said Fort Defiance coach Max Hill. “The ones who weren’t hitting are hitting and the pitchers did their job.”
Fort jumped on the board early in the contest with the first three batters recording hits and runs. Tiffany Lockridge and Brooke Sigrist started things off with singles and Lockridge scored on a Courtney Allman double to right field.
The Indians’ pitching ace, Davidson, started the day on the mound, striking out two in the first.
By the second, Fort began to run away with the game.
The Indians’ first three batters reached first safely after Rockbridge errors in the second inning, with Kendra Cash and Lockridge both scoring. The fourth batter of the inning, Alman, hit an RBI triple, and later scored after another Wildcats error. At the end of the inning, the Indians recorded one hit, but the Wildcats had five errors.
After the inning, Hill began to mix up his lineup, including pulling his Lenoir Rhyne-bound pitcher and sending in Hogle in the fourth.
Hogle had a shaky start in her relief appearance, hitting the first batter she faced, walking the next and hitting the third to load the bases. With the bases full, Rockbridge’s Chelsea Knous hit an RBI single, prompting Hill to call a conference at the mound.
The meeting worked for the Indians’ pitcher — she struck out the next two Wildcats batters and never walked another. 
“They play William Monroe tomorrow [Saturday] and that [experience] will help her,” Hill said. “[William Monroe] already beat Spotswood and I know they are going to be a quality opponent. That’s why we scheduled them.”
Fort scored four more runs in the fourth and three in the fifth.
Only nine games remain on the Indians’ schedule, including three in the district, giving Fort a sense of urgency to reach its peak. In today’s game against William Monroe, the Indians will look for what improvements they will need to make
“Even though the game [today] is about as important as one with [Massanuten District] teams, we need to see where we are at,” Hill said. “We don’t have but a couple more weeks left and that’s it. It’s time to rock and roll.”