Veterans dominates Burke County in softball playoff sweep

KATHLEEN -- Veterans softball has become hot at the right time.

Already riding a nine-game winning streak, the Warhawks completely dominated Burke County on Wednesday, picking up wins of 10-0 (five innings) and 14-3 (six innings) in the first round of the GHSA Class AAAA playoffs.

“For the demographics of this team, this was a big win for us,” Veterans coach David Coffey said. “We’re very young and very inexperienced in terms of playoffs, so to come out of the gate and kind of prove to ourselves that we can do this means a lot for the girls.”

Warhawks starting pitcher Avery Lamb made quick work of the Bears in Game 1, striking out nine batters before pitching the second game.

The offense did its job in supporting Lamb, as Kenly Sullivan got things started early and often. Sullivan had an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning and the Warhawks followed with a four-run second inning, highlighted by a Skylar Welford two-run double down the left field line and a Lindsey Cauley two-run single to right field.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sullivan capped off her impressive first game with a two-run single while the bases were loaded, pushing the Veterans lead to 8-0. On the same play, Burke County catcher Sara Mitchell overthrew the third baseman in her attempt to throw out a Veterans runner, and two runs came in.

But the story of the day was Lamb, who pitched both games and was challenged just a couple of times, both coming in the second game.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Burke County got runners on second and third with no outs. Lamb, however, surrendered just one run before getting out of the inning.

Then Burke County loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning -- Burke County was the home team for the second game -- but managed only a run to cut the deficit to 6-3.

Lamb also helped her cause out at the plate in Game 2, earlier hammering a double to the left-field fence that scored two runs to stretch the Veterans lead to 4-1.

“Our offense hitting like that takes the pressure off of me,” Lamb said. “I know I don’t have to be perfect and there wasn’t much pressure. We have a bunch of underclassmen and the first round is usually the scariest because they don’t know what to expect. But now that we have the first two games under our belt, they’ll come out even more prepared next week and know what to expect.”

Lamb wasn’t as efficient on the mound in the second game, but the offense took care of things again.

After a Sarah Wilkerson RBI single pushed the Veterans lead to 7-3 in the top of the sixth inning, Sullivan and Alexis Cortez added to the Veterans lead late in Game 2, smashing back-to-back two-run doubles.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Veterans dominates Burke County in softball playoff sweep ."