It was a picture-perfect day for a softball game. A cloudless sky allowed the sun to cast its spotlight on a clash between the Campbell Spartans and the Sprayberry Yellow Jackets. 

The ladies on the field clearly felt the energy early, particularly from the batter’s box, as the teams combined for eight runs in the first two innings. Campbell put three on the scoreboard in the top of the 1st inning. Then in the 2nd inning, junior third baseman Harper MacDonald cracked a two-run home run over the centerfield fence for a 5-0 lead. Sprayberry managed to answer with three scrappy runs of their own in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 5-3. At that point, both pitchers began to settle in and work the strike zone.

In the pitcher’s circle for the Spartans was sophomore Chase Lewgood. She went the full seven innings, striking out five, and giving up only three earned runs.

“Chase competed on every single pitch,” Campbell Head Coach Rico Billups said. “She had a couple of walks here and there, but she finds a way to erase those walks with big time outs.”

MacDonald, though, was the star of the game. Besides her home run, she also had an RBI single and an RBI double, giving her four runs batted in for the game and leaving her just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. 

Coach Billups was thankful for his slugger’s big game. “Harper has a very bright future in softball,” he said. “She’s very athletic. Offensively, she has made a lot of strides this year and we get a lot of power from her. She’s one of our centerpieces.”

The Yellow Jackets cut into the lead on a Jordan Simpson solo homer in the bottom of the 6th. The senior shortstop’s blast made the score 7-5. 

“Our girls keep fighting,” Sprayberry Head Coach Kerri Nidiffer said after the game. “Each day we get better. Our next step is to grow the program. We’re going to be graduating five girls and that’s a big chunk of our team. So, for the rest of this season, we’re trying to grow every day.”

Campbell responded to their shortened lead mightily in the top of the 7th with four insurance runs, highlighted by a two-run double from sophomore Carter Smith. With that the Spartans secured the 11-5 victory. It was their fourth straight win and served as sweet payback for a loss to the Jackets back in August.