Hickory swings its way into a second consecutive state softball championship game
LEESBURG — Hickory hacked its way to the state semifinals, and on the cusp of a second consecutive Class 5 championship game appearance, the free-swinging Hawks kept swinging.
Three players drove in runs, and Emily Miller battled through a complete game in the circle to lead Hickory to a 4-3 victory over Riverside in a Class 5 semifinal Friday on the Rams’ home field.
The Hawks (20-4) will play Woodgrove — a 2-0 semifinal winner over Nansemond River — for the state title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Riverside High. Hickory has won 12 consecutive games and will play for the title after falling 2-1 to Stone Bridge in last season’s championship game.
“We work so much on hitting,” Hawks coach Shane Smith said. “We got some girls who swing, they swing it hard, and this team’s just had a knack for getting two-out hits this year, and that happened again today.”
Cali Megaro, the Hawks’ leading hitter, delivered the defining blow Friday. Hickory was clinging to a 2-1 lead when Megaro stepped in with two outs and two on base in the bottom of the fifth inning. Megaro fell behind 0-2 against reliever Kaylie Avvisato, who entered to face Megaro. But Megaro, a junior, laced a line drive into the opposite field to bring home two runs and put the Hawks ahead 4-1.
“Our team is aggressive at the plate,” said Megaro, who has 41 hits and raised her batting average above .600 after hitting .588 during the regular season. “We can track the ball well to our bats, and when we do, it goes far.”
Hickory’s Paiton Everett drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second, and Shannon Coleman followed with a two-out RBI single for a 2-1 lead.
Miller, who improved to 10-1 this season, surrendered three consecutive hits to start the game, including Ashley Gabbert’s RBI single. But she kept the Rams off the base paths after that until Hailey Peterson’s solo home run and Kaylan Hoehn’s RBI double in the sixth.
Miller finished by retiring four of the final five batters she faced.
Nansemond River’s bid to make it an all-Southeastern District final was stymied earlier Friday by Woodgrove ace Abbey Lane. The right-hander, who has signed with George Mason, limited the Warriors (19-4) to two hits, struck out 11 and retired 19 of the final 20 batters she faced.
Woodgrove (26-1), of Purcellville, scored its only runs on Lane’s two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning against Nansemond River’s Cierra Gawryluk, who scattered five hits and struck out three.
Jami Frankenberry, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com. Twitter @JamiVP
