By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
LEEDS — The Green Wave has beaten Ramsay four times over the course of the 2022 season, but the sweetest was likely Thursday’s 7-0 victory that claimed the 5A Area 10 softball crown for Leeds High School.
Senior pitchers Emma Machen and Zoie Galloway combined to no-hit the Rams, and Leeds used a four-run fifth inning to pull away for the victory.
“It feels pretty good,” Machen said following the win, which was her last home game as a senior. “It was really fun. I didn’t really think about it. I just came in prepared, ready to play with my teammates and just to have fun.”
The Green Wave put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first after Sophie Sisk tripled on the second pitch she saw, and then Sophie Gromko hit a fly ball to right that was deep enough to score Sisk.
Galloway hammered one to right field for a triple of her own, and Katelyn Howard earned an RBI with a deep fly to right that scored Galloway.
Leeds scored again in the third inning when Sisk walked, stole second, and then advanced to third on a throwing error. Gromko again hit one into right field to score Sisk, and the Green Wave cruised to a 3-0 lead.
“We definitely manufactured some runs,” head coach Erin Wright said. “I think we had five sac flies of our seven runs. That was huge for us. We were playing quality softball.”
Tanner Galloway doubled to open the fifth inning for Leeds and advanced to third on a fly out by Sisk. Gromko got her third RBI of the day when she doubled to score Galloway. Indya Rogers came in as a courtesy runner for Gromko and scored when Zoie Galloway reached on an error. That made it 5-0 Leeds, but the Green Wave wasn’t done.
Howard doubled on a line drive to right to score Ashlynn Mayfield, who came in to run for Galloway. From there, Machen stroked a single to left field and scored Mayfield to make it 7-0.
Machen pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing no hits, striking out 11 and issuing three walks. Zoie Galloway came on in relief for one batter, recording a strikeout and ending a Ramsay threat in the top of the fifth inning. Because Galloway was already playing a position in the field, Wright was able to use the flex player rule to put Machen back on the mound for the sixth and seventh innings.
Leeds had seven runs on seven hits, with Sisk going 3-for-3 with a walk and scoring twice, while Zoie Galloway went 1-for-2 with a walk and scored twice. Howard was 1-for-2 with 2 RBI while Gromko was 1-for-3 with 3 RBI.
“It feels good,” Zoie Galloway said. “Just knowing that even though you are up, you’ve got to stay up.”