Burroughs walked, teammates handle offense

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 18, 2014 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- A day after breaking the North Carolina state home run record, Charles B. Aycock first baseman Meredith Burroughs didn't get in too many swings Thursday evening.

South Central pitcher Kayla Harris walked Burroughs four times. Burroughs contentedly watched the pitches go by and jogged down to first base.

Her teammates provided the offense.

The Golden Falcons cranked out 11 hits and cruised to a 10-3 win over Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference South Central just 24 hours after a road triumph over defending 3-A state champion D.H. Conley.

Second-year CBA coach Emily Burke was happy to see her team not experience a letdown game against South Central.

"We talked about staying focused and making sure we don't get too complacent and comfortable after coming off a big win like that," Burke said.

Keely Fulgham started the offensive attack for C.B. Aycock, slicing an RBI triple to right field. She later scored on an error.

A seven-run outburst in the second inning for Aycock deflated South Central. Katie Gay ignited the rally with a single up the middle. Abbie Walton, Cierra Harris, Fulgham and Mackenzie Wheeler all followed with hits of their own later in the inning.

After the Golden Falcons batted around, Gay came through again with a two-RBI single.

"We're pretty solid all the way through (the lineup)," Burke said. "If you don't pitch to (Meredith), you've got to pitch to somebody.

The Golden Falcons relied on their pitching the rest of the way.

Wheeler started in the circle and gave up two runs in three innings. Allie Phillips threw four innings of one-strikeout relief and earned the mound win.

C.B. Aycock has three pitchers with earned run averages (ERA) of less than 3.00, so Burke tries to get them all time on the mound when she can.

"We've got all kinds of different pitchers, left-handers, girls who throw hard, up, down side to side," Burke said. "We try to get them as much mound time in practice so they can come in any time. It's a good problem to have."

The Golden Falcons (12-2 overall, 10-1 ECC) entertain North Johnston on Tuesday.