RAMSEUR— Olivia Hall smacked a two-out, walk-off single to plate Aniyah King here on Tuesday night to lift Eastern Randolph to a 4-3 victory over rival Providence Grove in third-round action of the NCHSAA 2A State Playoffs.
Eastern Randolph (21-4) moves on to tangle with unbeaten Washington in the fourth round after taking its third win over Providence Grove (16-6) in four outings this spring. After 5-0 and 8-1 wins in the regular season by the Wildcats, the Patriots had taken the PAC 7 Conference tournament title just two weeks ago.
The heroics by Hall followed Brooklyn Rush poking an RBI-groundout to send home Leighanna Ward before Providence Grove intentionally loaded the bases.
The Patriots plated three runs in the top of the first inning to go up 3-0 out of the gates. All three runs were unearned as Maddie Hunt had the lone hit of the uprising, a leadoff single, before later scoring along with Alli Young and Makeena Sibbett, both of whom reached on errors.
Sibbett kept the Cats off the board until the third when ER pushed a pair of runs across to trim the deficit to 3-2. Both runs scored with two outs as King was hit by a pitch, stole second and third before strolling across on an RBI-single from Rush. Beaver reached on an infield safety moments later before Kelsey Craven mashed an RBI-double to plate Rush.
Beaver, who allowed six hits, no earned runs, no walks and fanned four in going all seven innings, kept Providence Grove off the board the remainder of the contest to set the stage for the thrilling Eastern Randolph win.
Eastern Randolph was paced by Jessica McNeill at the plate who went 3-for-3 while King was 2-for-3 with two runs, Rush 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI, Ward 1-for-3 with a run, and Beaver 1-for-3 with a walk.
Providence Grove was led offensively by Sibbett who was 1-for-3 with an RBI while Makayla McClain was 1-for-2, Madison Taylor was 1-for-3 with a double, Young 1-for-3 with a run, Courtney Williams 1-for-3, and Hunt 1-for-4 with a run.
Sibbett suffered the loss for the Patriots after allowing six hits, four runs, three walks and striking out one in 6.2 innings of work.