Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

Going into the first round of the 4-A playoffs, Davie’s softball team was hoping to make up for finishing third in the regular season, getting blown out by Reagan in the CPC Tournament semifinals and falling in the first round of the state playoffs in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The War Eagles did. Seeded 15th in the West Region, they belted visiting Mooresville 6-1 on May 6 and celebrated their first playoff win since a 10-5 decision at Northwest Guilford in 2021.
“Everybody came to play,” coach Nathan Handy said. “They were super pumped to get a win, get the monkey off their back and get a playoff win.”
The key to the game was Davie’s fast start in the bottom of the first inning. Carleigh Croom and Addie Brown drew walks to set the table for big hits from the bottom of the order.
“Croom had a good at-bat,” Handy said. “Addie has been a walk machine. She gets frustrated because she walks so much, but I told her: ‘That shows how well you see the ball. You’re a disciplined batter and I don’t care how you get on.’ She’s done a great job for us.”
With two on and two outs, Delaney Parsons opened the scoring by blooping a single over short.
“Delaney came through with a big single,” he said. “I think that really got the Mooresville pitcher rattled.”
After Landry Parsons took the third walk of the inning, Brianna Tolar delivered a big blow, a two-run double that staked pitcher Riley Potts to a comfortable 3-0 lead.
“It was really the bottom of our lineup,” he said. “We were told their pitcher is a freshman, and being a playoff game, she definitely was rattled early on. Brianna came through with a great at-bat. Brianna likes to hit everything on the pull side. They threw her an outside pitch, she stayed back on it and hit it in the gap (right-center field). That took the pressure off of us, and it really took a lot of pressure off Riley in the circle. It was definitely what we needed to get our offense restarted and fired up.”
The 18th-seeded Blue Devils were fortunate Davie didn’t get more. Jadyn Davis and Raelyn Lankford hit first-inning bullets for outs.
“We had two lineouts to center field,” he said. “Jadyn and Raelyn both hit shots to center. We were told their center fielder is legit.”
Davie tacked on single runs in the second (Lankford’s double plated Potts), third (L. Parsons doubled and scored on Raegan Davis’ hit) and fourth, which was more than enough insurance for Potts, who had an off day by her high standards but still dominated. She matched a season high in walks (four), recorded a season low in strikeouts (five) when throwing three-plus innings and did not have any 1-2-3 innings. But she scattered seven hits and held the Blue Devils to one unearned run.
“Riley had a great night,” Handy said. “I can’t remember over six or seven missed pitches; that’s really good.”
Davie’s biggest defensive inning was the sixth, when an error and two walks loaded the bases with no outs and the top of the order coming up. Lankford and L. Parsons were the reasons why Davie escaped without Mooresville cutting into the 6-1 margin.
Third baseman Lankford threw home for a forceout. Then L. Parsons caught a fly ball in left field and threw a strike to catcher J. Davis for a double play.
“We got out of a massive jam,” Handy said. “Riley threw a great screw ball and jammed the girl. Raelyn made a great play. Raelyn was there in no time. She’s fearless and plays in so far anyway. Landry made the throw of the year. Landry’s got a good arm. That was a massive play. Without that play, who knows what would have happened.”
Croom (2-3, four steals) and D. Parsons (2-4) paced Davie’s offense. Getting one hit were Lankford (1-4, double), L. Parsons (1-2, walk, double), Tolar (1-3), R. Davis (1-3) and Potts (1-1, two walks). Brown had two walks and two runs, giving her a record 21 walks/HBPs on the season.
Notes: Here’s a weird fact for you: Mooresville (15-10) hammered South Iredell 16-1, and S. Iredell routed Davie by the same score in the War Eagles’ opener. … Davie overcame three errors and a rare quiet offensive game from J. Davis, who was coming off a 4-for-4 game and was hitting .507. She went 0 for 4 after hitting safely in 20 of 23 games. “Jadyn has had two strikeouts all year,” Handy said. “That’s phenomenal.” … The CPC went 3-2 in the first round, with Reagan (12-2 over Southeast Guilford) and West Forsyth (7-1 over Southwest Guilford) winning and East Forsyth (7-1 to Lake Norman) and Mt. Tabor (15-0 to Alexander Central) losing.
AC 3, Davie 0
Davie failed to get a hit, only managed two base runners and committed two errors in a second-round game on the road on May 9. But there’s no shame in losing 3-0 to a juggernaut like Alexander Central, who outscore opponents 9-2 on average.
“We played the No. 3 team in the state one heck of a game,” Handy said. “We played a great game defensively. We did our job defensively after the first inning.”
The second-seeded Cougars used an error, two walks and a single to put up two first-inning runs. But Potts and her defense showed resilience and held AC off the scoreboard in four of the next five innings.
Potts held an ultra-talented 26-2 opponent to four hits and one earned run.
“The changeup was definitely working for Riley,” Handy said. “We frustrated them all night in the batter’s box. They did not hit well against Riley. Riley pitched a great game. It was one of her better games – not just this season, but in her career. The top four or five hitters for Alexander Central are dangerous. They are very dangerous. Their top four hitters had three hits and two walks. Coaches told me they’re a beatable team if you can get through their first four batters. And we did. They didn’t really do any damage.”
Hanna Steinour, who had missed seven games and made her first appearance since April 15, played a stellar second base. Croom was money in center field. And Potts set down the Cougars in order in the second, fourth and sixth.
“I have to give a bunch of credit to Hanna,” Handy said. “She came out there with one day of practice and made phenomenal plays.
“I wish we could have played that well in some of our conference games. That game was a lot closer than I think anybody would have given us credit for. We gave them a game they were not expecting, I can assure you of that. We gave a really good team a really good game. I said: ‘Walk out of here with your heads held high.’”
Central senior Laney Wike tossed the no-hitter – with zero walks – in 74 pitches. She had a perfect game until J. Davis reached on an error to lead off the fourth. J. Davis was the only War Eagle to reach base as she was hit by a pitch in the seventh. Thanks to a double play in the fourth, Wike faced the minimum 21 batters.
“We hit a lot of balls,” Handy said. “We just couldn’t get anything past their defense. And their defense didn’t make any mistakes other than one error.”
The coaches had to say good-byes to six seniors: Lankford, Croom, Potts, Steinour, D. Parsons and Alexis Frogge.
“They’ve allowed me to continue to live out my dream to coach high school softball,” Handy said.
Notes: The curtain closed on a monster career for Potts. She has the record for career wins with 42. Shannon Handy had 40 from 1998-2001 and Olivia Boger had 38 from 2014-17. She’s first in career innings pitched with 351. Handy had 347 and Boger 296. Potts tied her own single-season record with 176 Ks. She actually holds the top three spots in that category. She’s far and away the career strikeout leader with 532. Handy had 341 and Boger 323. Potts also has the record for Ks in a game with 16. … J. Davis has had a career for the ages, and she’s not even done yet. The junior hit .465 to record her third .400-plus season. J. Davis, Sierra Ferguson, Bridgett Tierney, McKenzie Barneycastle and Sydney Dirks are the only War Eagles to hit .400 three times. J. Davis has a chance to become the first to do it four times. … Brown set a record with 21 walks/HBPs. Haley McCune did hold the mark with 18 in 2011. … Davie (17-8) reached 17 wins for the third straight year. … Individual stats will be published next week.