Lion softball was able to strand several Hudson baserunners Saturday on their way to a 7-4 area championship played in Livingston.
Livingston took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Taylor Wright drove in Alexyis Richardson on a sacrifice fly.
Hudson scored on an error in the next half-inning, tying it at one each.
The score would remain tied until the bottom of the third, when Corrine Henderson drove a pitch deep over the center field fence for a homer.
Brooklyn Pace doubled in the fourth to start a big Lion attack. Richardson then bunted her way on base. Breonna Niederhofer got Pace in with a sacrifice bunt, doubling the Lion lead at 3-1. Raigen Long singled to drive in Richardson. Henderson was intentionally walked, and Wright also took a base on balls to load the bags. Long and Henderson crossed home when a wild pitch couldn’t be located, and Ariyanah Cuellar singled in Wright to make it a 7-1 Livingston advantage.
Hudson got a run in the fifth with a triple and RBI-single. They scored two in the sixth with two on, producing a sacrifice grounder and double.
Livingston pitching worked its way out of jams all afternoon. The Lions stranded multiple baserunners in five innings, and left a Lady Hornet in scoring position in one of the two others. It wasn’t until the final three outs that Livingston retired the hitters in order.
Richardson and Henderson scored twice for the Lions, while Long, Pace and Cuellar each collected two hits. Richardson walked twice and Henderson walked three times.
In the circle, Brooke Anderson tossed four frames, allowing two runs, just one earned. She struck out three. Long threw three innings and allowed two unearned runs, striking out one.
