Offensive barrage powers Warlassies to 12-6 win over Reynolds
Owen opens softball season with back-to-back victories
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 5, 2025
An early-inning comeback followed by an offensive onslaught, March 4, powered the Warlassies to a 12-6 home victory over Reynolds.
The win was Owen’s second straight to open the season, and 12th consecutive at home since 2024.
The Warlassies kicked off the campaign, Feb. 27, with a 1-0 victory over North Buncombe. Facing a 5-run deficit against the Rockets entering the bottom of the second inning, Owen needed more production at the plate.
Junior Easton Whitson, who finished the contest 4-for-4, scored her team’s first run in the second, cutting into the Reynolds lead, before a towering 2-run home run by sophomore Hannah Norton in the third narrowed the gap, 5-3.
The catcher followed her second home run of the season in the fourth by driving sophomore Mia Roland, who finished the night with 3 hits in 4 plate appearances, in from second base. As the teams entered the fifth inning, tied 5-5, the Warlassies were primed for an explosive at-bat.
Owen took a 6-5 lead on a double steal and errant throw to third, as Whitson crossed the plate for the second time in the contest. A line drive by senior Savannah Hollingsworth allowed Payten Brockman to score from third, before freshman Cadyn Pressley hit an RBI triple down the right field line. Senior Sophie Neal, who pitched a complete game for Owen, followed up with a single to opposite field, giving her team a 9-5 advantage.
Aggressive baserunning and Reynolds errors generated 3 additional runs in the inning, as the Warlassies seized a 12-5 lead. While the Rockets drove in 1 in the final frame, Owen secured the victory.
“We had great leadership from some of our kids tonight, stepping up and settling their teammates down and telling them to focus on eliminating errors,” fifth-year head coach Pete Ledford said. “We control the stuff we can control. Our leader, Sophie, was on the mound, came in when the bats started rolling and said, ‘girls, you got hit it.’ That’s what they did.”
Norton’s power in the heart of the lineup was once again a deciding factor in the Owen victory, he added.
“We had her batting fifth against North Buncombe, and everybody knows what Mia can do, so they were walking her,” the coach said. “Tonight we put her at fourth, so they had to let Mia hit, and Hannah was right there to take advantage of that.”
Norton led the way with 3 RBI, as the reigning Western Highlands Conference champions established momentum early in the season against challenging opponents.
“After last year, we had conversations and this team wants to be elite,” Ledford said. “They think they are there, so when I made the schedule I wanted us to play the teams that will make us that good.”
The strategy is intended to push the Warlassies, who advanced to the third round of the playoffs last spring, to the next level.
“When we get back to Southwestern Randolph, because that’s who we will face in the playoffs again, we’ll be tested,” Ledford said.
Owen will travel to Mountain Heritage at 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 11. The team returns home at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 12, to welcome defending 1A state champion Robbinsville.
Photos of the matchup between Owen and Reynolds can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.