Hylton Takes on Osbourn Park for District Softball Championship

After defeating Gar-Field High School 6-0 on Tuesday in the Cardinal District Softball Semifinal, the Hylton Lady Bulldogs face the Osbourn Park Lady Jackets Thursday at 6 p.m. in the district final.

The Bulldogs dropped two regular season games to Osbourn Park, who ended up with the best record in the district. Both games were close, with Hylton losing by only three runs in each game.

Hylton Head Coach Harry Bell said the team needs to get more offensive production from the bottom of the lineup than in previous games against Osbourn Park. Bell said Hylton has not been very successful against Lady Jackets pitcher Ashley Runion, last year’s Cardinal District player of the year.

“They’re solid through their lineup,” he said. “We’re just going to have to hit better because they’re going to score runs.”

Bell also said that Hylton’s two errors in the first game against Osbourn Park and three in their second game were big factors in the losses. “We’ve got to get it down to one tonight,” he said.

Hylton pitcher Nicole Belk pitched a shutout Tuesday against Gar-Field, and has a 1.68 ERA for the season. “If Nicole pitches the same as she did the other night, I think we’ll be in good shape,” Bell said.

The Bulldogs took advantage of several late mistakes by Gar-Field Tuesday to get the 6-0 win. Bell said the game was much closer than the score indicated.

Going into their last half-inning on offense, Hylton held a slim 1-0 lead. With one runner on base, Hylton’s offensive star, Shae Braxton, hit an RBI triple off of the fence.

Braxton, who hit 10 home runs this season to move into second place on the all-time single season home run record list in the state, has built high expectations. “When Shae’s ball hit the fence, everyone groaned,” Bell said. “They were hoping for a home run.”

That hit started the inning’s scoring for Hylton, who scored four more runs on errors by Gar-Field.

While Hylton looks to beat Osbourn Park Thursday in the District Championship, the team will move on to the Northwest Regional Tournament regardless of the outcome. Hylton will play Battefield High School at 6:00 p.m. on Monday at Battlefield.