CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The Walker Valley softball team had fun in the sun during spring break.
The Lady Mustangs did again on Monday.
They defeated in-town rival Cleveland 12-0 in less than four innings on a perfect day at Larry Haney Field.
"It wasn't just one inning," Walker Valley coach Lauren Limburg said. "We hit for the whole game."
The Lady Mustangs (6-4) went 3-3 during a Gulf Coast tournament that allowed them to play more games than most other area teams.
The experience paid off. They proved to be sharper and more advanced for the season Monday than the Lady Raiders.
Cleveland's Ambra Belcher, above, is late with the tag at third base on Walker Valley's Emily Spann Monday in the fourth inning. The Mustangs won the contest 12-0, in four innings."It gave us an opportunity to get real at-bats and real game situations, defensively," Limburg said. "It was beneficial to get those real-game experiences."
Each of Walker Valley's starters reached base at least once, and all but two scored a run. Sophomore Ali King, hitting ninth in the order, went 3-for-3 with six RBIs, including a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth. It was her first career home run.
"That's a really special moment for her," Limburg said. "I'm glad she got to experience that."
Hallie Davis, a future Lee University infielder, delivered the game-ending run on a sacrifice fly that plated Carly Frost.
"I thought we hit good pitches," Limburg said. "Pitch selection was huge for us. I was proud of that, and I'm proud and glad to see all the girls contribute."
The two runs that Walker Valley scored in the second inning provided pitcher Alicia Raymond with more than enough offense. She allowed just two hits, struck out four and didn't allow a runner beyond second base in her four innings of work.
Cleveland pitcher Haley Hodgson has had better days in the circle.
"As a pitcher, there are days when you just don't have it," Cleveland coach Caitlyn Deloach said. "On those days, you hope your defense can back you up, and we had quite a few mental errors that hurt us and hurt Haley's confidence."
Deloach, a former Lee pitcher, had an idea for drills that the Lady Raiders could conduct today at practice.
"We need to hit our cut-offs. We struggled with that today and were kind of just throwing the ball around," she said. "We just had a mental block going on."
The Lady Mustangs were scoreless in the first inning. They scored two in the second inning, three in third and seven in the fourth, when 10 batters stepped to the plate and never got to three outs.
"I didn't expect that," King said of the pitch she slammed. "It was my favorite pitch. It was high and inside."
It was perfect -- like a sunny day on the coast.
"We got several hits in a row and that's key," Limburg said. "I told them after the game that we have to do our job when we get runners in scoring position and do our job.
"I was also proud of their focus, and we have to build on that."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.