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Pelham traveled to Briarwood on Tuesday, Feb. 26, and was able to put together 17 hits to pick up a dominant road win against the Lions. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

Pelham traveled to Briarwood on Tuesday, Feb. 26, and was able to put together 17 hits to pick up a dominant road win against the Lions. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

NORTH SHELBY – In an offensive outburst that featured a combined 25 hits, the Pelham Panthers were able score 10 runs between the third and fifth innings to eventually pull away for a 13-5 road victory at Briarwood Christian School on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

After a week of bad weather during the first week of the 2019 season, it marked the first for each team this year, and you could tell by the way each of the teams was excited to swing the bats.

Pelham, however, scored in all but two innings of the game, and had nine different players pick up a hit, while two of those nine had four hits.

Jaley Davis went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Holly Helms went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored.

Pelham’s impressive night started in the top of the first.

Despite two quick outs, Yoly Paredes was able to spark some energy with a triple on a line drive to right field. During Brianna Copeland’s at bat, Paredes was able to make that base running pay off when a passed ball allowed her to cross the plate for a 1-0 lead, which was all of the damage in the first inning.

In the bottom of the second, Briarwood was able to answer, something the Lions were able to do through the first three innings.

After two singles through the first three batters from Taylor Wheat and Ashleigh Donovan, BCS was able to put its first run on the board with a steal of home from Wheat after Donovan drew a throw while stealing second.

That was followed by an exciting second inning offensively from both teams.

Pelham kicked it off in the top half with back-to-back singles from Davis and Kaylyn Tomlinson. Both eventually advanced into scoring position on a passed ball, and then were driven in by back-to-back sac flies from Paredes and Copeland to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.

Briarwood quickly answered back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI-single from Caroline Campbell to drive in Blakeley Watts and bring the Lions within a run. After two hit batters loaded the bases, Wheat hit a sac fly to left field to drive in Campbell, which evened the score at 3-3 through three innings.

The Panthers, however, then hit a spurt of two extremely strong innings at the plate that featured eight unanswered runs.

A leadoff triple from Nevaeh McIntyre in the top of the fourth eventually led to her scoring on a sac fly from Madalin Petrock. A double from Davis two batters later eventually led to two more runs crossing the plate for a 6-3 lead through four innings of play.

That strong play continued over into the top of the fifth as a two-out rally led to five more runs crossing the plate, a double from Helms and four singles from McIntyre, Burnett, Petrock and Davis, as well as one walk to Watts, led to the Panthers taking a 11-3 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Pelham added two more runs on a two-RBI single from Helms to extend the lead to 10 at 13-3.

Briarwood put together two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little too late, as the Lions couldn’t overcome the 10-run deficit completely.

Behind Davis and Helms, Pelham got two hits from McIntyre and Petrock, while Petrock also added two RBIs.

Briarwood was led by Campbell with a 2-for-4 day at the plate, including two runs scored and one RBI, as well as Wheat, who went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and one run scored.

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