For The Dialog
PIKE CREEK – The Padua Pandas’ softball team found itself trailing top-ranked Caravel, 6-0, after an inning and half on April 5. They rallied to tie it at eight but fell, 10-8, in eight innings at the Midway Softball Complex.
Grace Walker, who was 3 for 5 on the day, drove in the winning runs for Caravel with a single in the top of the eighth inning. The Buccaneers (2-1) scored two in the first as Walker reached on a two-out infield single. She stole second and scored on a single by Amanda Stull. Stull got home on a single by Amanda Ladzinski. The Bucs plated four runs in the second as Emily Proffitt hit a grand slam over the left-field fence.
The Pandas chipped away at the lead beginning in the bottom of the second. Amelia Giordano singled home two to cut it to 6-2. Caravel added a run in the third when Elizabeth Smith hit a bomb over the fence in right-center to make it 7-2.
Padua got two of those back in the bottom of the inning. Gabriela Frabizzio singled home a run, then got caught in a rundown long enough to allow Zoey Jones to score. The game stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when the Pandas scored three runs on five singles. Giordano drove home the first run on a single. Hailey Williams drove in a run on a single, and a sacrifice fly by Caitlin Baxter tied it at seven.
Walker led off the top of the seventh and scored on a defensive error to give the Buccaneers an 8-7 lead. The Pandas tied it again in the bottom of the inning as Abby Cunningham lead off with a single, and courtesy runner Cameron Mitchell scored on an infield single by Alexandra Musial.
Walker had the hit in the eighth, but it was the defensive play of Courtney Brobst that won it. Padua had loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the frame, and Frabizzio hit a bloop down the right field line. Brobst saved the game with an incredible diving catch.
The Pandas (3-2) picked up three hits from Cunningham, while Giordano drove in three runs on a pair of hits. They will travel to Wilmington Charter on Saturday, with the first pitch at noon. The Buccaneers (2-1) will travel to Polytech on Friday for a 4:15 p.m. start.
