Sherry Simmonds gave up just three hits Saturday in pitching the Thymes to a 4-1 victory over Hard Wuk on the opening day of the Women’s Softball league at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark.
Jaymi Castro, the Hard Wuk starting pitcher, was also pretty good in the early going, as neither team was able to score over the first two innings. She only gave up four hits in the game.
After two scoreless innings, the Thymes got their first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on an error by the Hard Wuk shortstop to take the early 1-0 lead. Another error by the Hard Wuk shortstop in the bottom of the fourth gave the Thymes their second run of the game for a 2-0 lead at the end of four completed innings.
Hard Wuk finally got on the board in the top of the fifth on an RBI ground out by Desiree Baker to cut the lead in half at 2-1. The Thymes, however, answered with their final two runs of the game in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead to three runs, which was more than enough for Simmonds to work with. Both runs were unearned.
With the allotted game time just about gone, Hard Wuk came to bat in the top of the sixth inning knowing that it would be their last at-bat. They could not mount any threat, however, as Simmonds and the Thymes were able to set them down in order for the opening-day 4-1 victory.
In the victory on the hill for the Thymes, Simmonds also struck out seven batters. Castro, who only gave up four hits, struck out eight batters in getting the loss. Top batters for the Thymes were Lisa Thomas, 2 for 3, and Sheila Gumbs and Kenisha Woodrup, both 1 for 3. For Hard Wuk, Pat Philip went 2 for 3.
