Washington softball suffers first loss in pitchers’ duel

Published 4:34 am Wednesday, March 5, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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When two excellent pitchers take the mound in a high school softball game, one mistake is usually all it takes to win the game.

Washington senior Emma Orr outdueled Richlands senior Makenzie Goin but two errors in the seventh inning made the difference as the Pirates picked up a 2-0 nonconference victory.

Orr was her usual brilliant self on the mound, giving up just one hit, striking out 13 and walking two. However, with one out, her throwing error to first on a bunt attempt by Jordan Meece opened the door for Richlands. A wild pitch to Addi Andrews allowed Meece to reach third. After Andrews walked, she attempted to steal second. The throw from Washington catcher Addison Miller was wide, allowing Meece and Andrews to score.

“Yeah, I mean I knew it was going to be a pitcher’s duel from the start because it was last year, it was the year before.,” Orr said. “I played travel ball with (Goin), we just know each other, but I mean we just didn’t hit great. I mean all of a sudden I didn’t, it’s just the fastest pitcher we’ve seen yet because we’ve only played one other game.

“We’re not used to seeing that type of pitching, so it’s all right. Yeah, those games come down to a one-mistake game and then I threw the ball on the ground at first and I just went down from there.”

The recent winter weather has played havoc on just about everybody’s spring sports schedule, including the Pam Pack. The team didn’t get many practices in and a scheduled jamboree on Feb. 22 was canceled.

Washington opened the season on Feb. 25 with a 2-1 win over Croatan, using six hits and a one-hit, 14 strikeout performance by Orr to get the win.

Facing Richlands was a much more difficult task. The Pam Pack had trouble getting hits with Samantha Ward dropping a single into shallow left field and Carly Woolard reaching on a single up the middle with two outs in the sixth.

Pack senior shortstop Alani Hyatt knows the talent on her team is there and is confident things will come together as the season continues.

“Yes, we do have a lot of extremely talented athletes,” Hyatt said. “A lot of us do play travel ball and other things outside of school ball. But last week we did get a big setback.

“We couldn’t practice together. We really couldn’t do anything because there was so much ice on the ground and snow. We couldn’t get any team practices in.

“But these types of games just get us ready for the rest. And, yeah, we had a short hand with no scrimmages and other things. But we’re going to come back from it.”

Pack fifth-year head coach Brad Horton has put together a tough schedule that includes Class 3A powers C.B. Aycock and South Central along with 4A D.H. Conley and 1A Bear Grass Charter, including the Eastern Plains Conference schedule.

So games like Richlands serve as learning moments that will hopefully help the team down the road.

“Well, this is what our schedule’s made of,” Horton said. “I mean, truthfully, we’ve got a very tough schedule, and Richlands is a very good team. We’ve always had 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 games with them every year.

“And so we built the schedule this year to help the girls grow, get better for the playoffs. And that’s kind of our goal when we set something is how do we get ready. That’s why we play teams like this, is because they get us ready.

“We see a lot of good teams like that. So this is kind of what our season’s going to look like this year.”

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