Another night, another rout: Warriorettes stay red hot

The White County Middle School Warriorettes saw a familiar opponent Thursday night — and delivered a very familiar result. Just days after a 20-0 win at home, White County traveled to Avery Trace and rolled to a 21-1 victory, completing a dominant two-game sweep.

It didn’t take long for things to tilt in White County’s favor. Bianca Villano was hit by the second pitch of the game and immediately turned it into a run, working her way around the bases on wild pitches with aggressive, heads-up base running. Control issues plagued Avery Trace from the start, as the pitcher issued six walks in the opening inning. Combined with a couple of defensive miscues and smart decisions on the basepaths, the Warriorettes piled up seven runs before the home team could settle in.

Kambrie Tayes got the start in the circle and quickly found her footing. After a four-pitch walk to open the bottom of the first, she shut the door. Tayes struck out two and handled a ground ball herself to retire the side and keep Avery Trace off the board.

White County blew things open in the second inning.

Bella Rosell-Diaz sparked the rally with a line-drive double to center field, and the pressure never let up. A string of errors helped bring in two runs before Sophia Austin ripped a triple into right field to push the lead to 11-0. The inning only escalated from there. Dreu Segraves worked a walk, Villano added an RBI single, and Addison Finley cleared the bases with a double. Then came the exclamation point — Paizlee Taylor launched a home run over the center field fence to stretch the lead even further.

By the time the dust settled, White County had pushed across 13 runs in the inning, extending the lead to 20-0 before heading back to the field.

With a cushion behind her, Tayes went right back to work. She struck out the side in the bottom of the second on just 11 pitches, showing complete command.

The Warriorettes added one more run in the third with a walk and two productive ground balls to make it 21-0.

Avery Trace managed to avoid the shutout in their final at-bat. After a leadoff walk and a strikeout, Tayes gave up her only hit of the game — an RBI double to center. But any hope of extending the game ended quickly. Two pitches later, White County turned a double play to close things out.

Tayes went the distance, allowing just one hit and one run while striking out six. She faced only 11 batters and threw 42 pitches, 25 of them for strikes.

The win marks the 10th of the season for the Warriorettes, whose only loss came earlier this week. They’ll look to keep the momentum going Monday when they travel to Crossville to face Stone Memorial.