STARKVILLE — Fallon Parker calmly snared the line drive for the second out of the top of the third inning, noticed Kirk Academy’s Sophie Brister straying far off first base and fired across the diamond to Austin Tucker in plenty of time.
The Starkville Academy third baseman’s nifty double play ended the inning, sending the Vols back into the dugout with a commanding lead. But just a few seconds later, the whole team emerged and spread out on the first-base line, and Kirk’s players did the same on the other foul line.
Seemingly as soon as it had begun, the game was over.
Starkville Academy needed only about 45 minutes to dispatch the Raiders 13-1 in Tuesday’s home contest, triggering the 12-run mercy rule after three innings. Parker’s double play — and its comparatively quiet reaction — was a fitting end to a Vols win that seemed thoroughly businesslike throughout.
It was the fourth straight win for Starkville Academy under first-year coach Lee Berryhill, who’s helped the Vols turn things around since dropping their first two games.
The winning streak has “given us a lot of confidence to get out here and kick tail,” Tucker said.
They certainly did so from the start Tuesday, taking advantage of walk after walk by Kirk pitcher Abbie Mattox. Mattox issued 14 free passes, including 11 in the Vols’ 11-run second inning.
Berryhill praised his team’s patience at the plate in the midst of Kirk’s inaccuracy.
“Tonight, the other team struggled with strikes and so forth, and so we did a good job taking a lot of balls,” he said.
It squared with his stated approach of being patient yet aggressive at bat. The Vols made sure they did both, as Arden Parker illustrated when she ripped a two-run single to left field in the second — the lone hit of the big inning.
Meanwhile, Arlee Oswalt — daughter of former MLB star Roy Oswalt, the pitching coach for Starkville Academy’s baseball team — largely shut the Raiders down in three innings of work.
Oswalt allowed just one run in the first inning and faced the minimum in the second and third, providing an effective contrast to Mattox’s outing for Kirk.
“She threw strikes and made them swing the bat, which is a big difference comparing what they did and what we did,” Berryhill said.
Tucker, who had four hits in Monday’s win at Hebron Christian, said defensive changes in last week’s game against Central Holmes help the Vols jump-start their season. Against the Trojans, Berryhill moved Fallon Parker to third base and Tucker to first, where she’d never played before. Tucker said she still wants to improve her fielding, but as the double play she and Parker turned to end the ballgame showed, the switch has paid off.
“It was different for us, but it was a good different,” said Tucker, the team’s only senior. “It made us want to do better. It made us want to get the wins and want to make the plays.”
The Vols have done that, bringing success to a team that hasn’t historically had it. Tucker said the team’s four-game streak is welcome after a lot of disappointment.
“It’s amazing,” Tucker said. “It feels really good.”
Other scores
Indianola Academy 10, Oak Hill Academy 0
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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