By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
Standing behind the backstop at Bluffton High School’s softball field on a beautiful Friday night, lamenting the fact that her own game had been rained out, Beaufort High sophomore pitcher Kylie Rast downplayed her hot start to the season. Wait until James Island, she said.
Sure, Rast experienced some of the return to reality that she expected when her Eagles faced the frontrunner Trojans last week, but she showed enough to prove the eye-popping numbers early in the season were no fluke, pitching Beaufort to a 7-4 win in the series opener before the Trojans punched back to win the finale 7-1 and salvage a split. The Eagles stumbled again Monday at May River, making seven errors in a 6-3 defeat, but they’re still right in the mix in a wide-open Region 7-4A race.
Rast struck out 12 and walked three in a complete game Wednesday, holding the Trojans to two earned runs and seven hits to hand James Island its first region loss. The Eagles didn’t do a whole lot at the plate, but six singles and six walks were enough with the aid of three James Island errors. Kyrsten Cruikshank drove in three runs for Beaufort.
James Island returned the favor Friday, giving the Eagles their first defeat of the year — their only previous blemish was a tie with John Paul II — and pulling even in the loss column. Hannah Higgins tossed a complete game and had an RBI double and Sydney Walker had three hits and two RBIs for the Trojans. Rast struck out 11, but the Eagles made six errors and things unraveled in a four-run fourth inning.
It was more of the same Monday in Bluffton, as seven errors combined with some timely hitting from Casey Laing (2-3, two doubles, RBI) and the Sharks put the Eagles in an early hole, and the offense couldn’t dig out against Victoria Murphy. Rast was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs, and Riley Brozek had a hit and drove in two runs.
The Eagles (6-2-1, 2-2) host May River for the series finale Wednesday.
