North Iredell/West Iredell softball thoughts

Here are a few items and general thoughts from last night's game that didn't make it into the print edition.

In my opinion, this was probably the most contested game - in any sport - of the entire spring season. North's Hannah Stutts and West's Hannah Pennell engaged in a classic pitcher's duel in a game that went into 12 innings.

Stutts' and Pennell's numbers were eerily similar.
IP H R ER BB K
Stutts 12 6 0 0 0 13
Pennell 12 5 1 0 4 14

The only category that's not nearly identical is the number of walks, and those didn't make a difference - one of them was intentional.

Unofficially, Stutts tossed 132 pitches and Pennell tossed 173. 173! That's incredible.

Stutts went 3-for-4 at the plate with an intentional walk, and Pennell went 1-for-4.

As for the playoff picture, both teams sport identical conference records. West's overall record is better, so they own the tiebreaker. Each team has three games left, with two common opponents: West Rowan (13-4, 7-2) and Carson (7-8, 4-5). West's final game is against Northwest Cabarrus, who is second in the conference, and North will play Mooresville (seventh in the conference) on Thursday.

North catcher Leslie Payne had plenty of motivation during her final at bat, which resulted in her sacrifice fly to win the game. But perhaps the biggest factor in her mind was rest.

"I was starting to get tired, and Hannah was starting to get tired," Payne told me after the game. "I was ready for it to end."

The umpires did an excellent job managing the game. The home plate ump had a very wide strike zone, but he was consistent throughout. And the only bad call was reversed. The field umpire ruled in the top of the eighth inning that West Iredell pinch runner Brandi Lewis was out on a pickoff throw from Payne. After making the "out" call, he immediately summoned the home plate umpire to the field, where the two had about a 15 second discussion. The call was eventually changed, and it was the right call.

Statesville golf
In a side note, Statesville's Dalyn Bellingham shot a team-high 38 during Monday's North Piedmont Conference match.

That was important for the Greyhounds, as Bellingham never shot better than a 47 on the five other Monday's throughout the season. On Thursdays, however, he shot a 39 three times.