Hailey Carroll didn’t mean to steal the show on senior night, but the Ridgeland High School sophomore did just that in her softball team’s most important game of the season.
Carroll, a sophomore, pitched a four-hit shutout Thursday as the host Lady Panthers beat Northwest Whitfield 6-0 and in doing so tied the Lady Bruins atop Region 6-AAAA with 10-2 records. The teams split their season series, but Ridgeland (20-5 overall) earned the No. 1 seed for the region tournament via a tiebreaker (fewer runs allowed between the two teams).
Ridgeland and Northwest (23-2) have byes in the first round of region, which is next week, and have already clinched berths in the state tournament.
“We’ve been working and working to get that complete-game effort, and it came on senior night,” Ridgeland coach Richie Wood said. “Hailey Carroll has been growing and growing as a player, and she’s really pitched well these last few games. I’m really happy for her and for these seniors.”
The Lady Panthers jumped on Northwest quickly. Carroll pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and Ridgeland sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half, scoring four runs on three hits and three errors.