Smallwood blows by Patriots again

Apr. 17—Independence coach Ken Adkins lamented the fact that his teams had never lost a game to Woodrow Wilson in his 10 seasons, until now.

"And the reason for that is Aubrey Smallwood," he said after the Flying Eagles' 8-4 victory over Independence Monday in Beckley.

Behind another sterling outing from Smallwood, Woodrow swept the season series with the Patriots. The sophomore ended with a complete-game two-hitter, matching her season-high for strikeouts with 19.

The Flying Eagles (9-7) have now won three straight against the Patriots, including a 2-1 victory on April 26 of last season.

Smallwood was the winning pitcher in all three games, going the distance each time. She struck out 47 batters over those 21 innings.

"Going into this game, I knew it was going to be close and it came to down to who made the most errors, because it always does," Smallwood said. "I almost feel like I'm more challenged against a team like Independence, with a good thrower like Delaney and a good offense and a good defense like Independence has."

All that is true, but Smallwood seems to always have the answers.

She was in control from the outset, getting past a pair of first-inning walks. Fourteen of Smallwood's first 15 outs recorded came via strikeout.

The offense helped out with four runs in the bottom of the first off Independence starter Delaney Buckland. and it started with perhaps a bit of foreshadowing.

The Patriots went from the ocean breeze of last week's trip to Myrtle Beach to the stiff, chilly breeze of southern West Virginia. Woodrow's first batter of the game, freshman Jasmine Daubert, reached when a seemingly harmless popup on the first base side of the mound was instead blown to the base line.

A charging Buckland was able to get her glove on it but it bounced into foul ground and Daubert had a gift base hit.

One out later, Woodrow loaded the bases on consecutive singles from Smallwood and Brooklynn Bird. After Bria Blume, running for Daubert, scored and the other runners moved up on a passed ball. A single by Savannah Bragg drove in courtesy runner Katelyn Hamb.

Presley Bailey then doubled to right field to score Bird, and Bragg scored when the relay throw got away, staking Smallwood to a 4-0 lead.

"You give her a few runs, you've got a chance. That's for sure," first-year Woodrow coach Tony Maiolo said.

The Eagles added an unearned run in the second.

Independence (12-6) got back in it with a three-run fourth thanks to Woodrow's struggles defending the short game.

Kendall Martin reached on a two-base error to lead it off, then Kassidy Bradbury picked up the Patriots' first hit with a perfectly-placed bunt that got Martin to third. Bradbury then stole second to open up first base. Smallwood struck out Avory Varney, who had to be thrown out at first on a passed ball, and Martin scored to get Indy on the board.

From there, the Patriots kept bunting and it seemed to throw the Flying Eagles off. Harmony Mills reached on an error and took second as Bradbury scored. Mills then stole third and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3.

Smallwood said being unprepared to field the bunt "bit us in the butt."

"We definitely showed something there that we're going to have to work on and do a little better at," Maiolo said.

The Patriots' philosophy was obviously to bunt until the Flying Eagles proved they could defend it.

"That's what we did, and they never did prove they could field it," Adkins said. "We just didn't get balls in play."

Even in the bunting game, Smallwood picked up two strikeouts when batters bunted foul with two strikes. Adkins thought his team missed an opportunity to take advantage of the Woodrow defense with Smallwood cruising.

"Every team with a great pitcher, relies on the great pitcher," he said. "So you're never ready when the ball comes. and we have the same trouble. You put balls in play, bad (windy) conditions today — the top of our order struck out (nine) times. We got two walks out of our first four batters in the order; we go 0-fer the whole time.

"All the runs we scored were from the bottom of the order just putting the ball in play."

The Patriots wound up committing four errors behind Buckland, who last week threw a perfect game against St. Joseph Academy (Cleveland, Ohio). She struck out 11 batters.

Against Woodrow, four of Buckland's eight runs allowed were unearned. She did strike out 12 and walk two, but also gave up 11 hits.

The Patriots got her another run in the sixth to make it 5-4, but Woodrow put it away in the bottom half with three insurance runs.

Woodrow will host Oak Hill and the Patriots will go to Liberty on Tuesday. Both games will start at 5:30 p.m.

Smallwood appreciated Adkins' compliment after the game.

"Of course it feels great knowing that," she said, "but I think this team, even without me, I think they're very competitive and they would have given Independence a run for their money."