2016 Senior All-Star Softball Classic MVPs — (l-r) Shayla Smith, Stephenson (Red) and Taylor Roberts, Southwest DeKalb (Blue)
The DeKalb County Blue Senior Softball All-Stars ended the two game streak of the Red All-Stars with a 7-3 victory at Lakeside on Monday.
The Red had won the DeKalb County All-Star Softball Classic the past two seasons by scores of 15-3 and 24-3 and jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a RBI double by Stephenson’s Shayla Smith that plated Stephenson teammate Nailah Manning who had reached on an error.
Southwest DeKalb’s Taylor Roberts got out of the inning without further damaged and went on to limit the Red to just two more hits and two more runs as she went the distance on the mound for the Blue.
Roberts had a groundout to shortstop to plate Druid Hills’ Carter Beckwith to knot the game in the top of the second. The Blue then took the lead for good on back-to-back, two-out RBI singles by Druid Hills’ Elizabeth Aiken and Dunwoody’s Katlyn Andrin to up 3-1 in the top of the third.
Lakeside’s Carmen Frison reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second and third and went home on a wild pitch to trim the Blue lead back to 3-2 in the bottom of the third.
Two errors in the top of the fourth allowed Beckwith to score her second run of the game in the top of the fourth as the Blue went up 4-2.
KK Sinisgalli walked and Miya Collins singles in the top of the fifth for the Blue. Both would come home to score on wild pitches as the lead increased to 6-2 in favor of the Blue.
Arabia Mountain’s Courtney Pack singled and scored on a Manning single as the lead was cut to 6-3 by the Red.
The Blue tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning as Stone Mountain’s Jamila Dickerson walked and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Tucker’s Ashley Smith.
Roberts set the Red down in order in the bottom of the seventh to close out the victory and was named the Blue MVP for going all seven innings with 3 strikeouts and allowing just one earned run, three hits, one walk and a hit batsman. She also drove in the first run of the game for the Blue.
Blue All-Star Katlyn Andrin of Dunwoody was the only batter to have multiple hits at 2-3 on the day and Ashley Smith of Tucker tied an All-Star record with three stolen bases on the day.
Stephenson’s Shayla Smith had the only extra base hit of the game, a RBI double in the first inning, and finished 1-2 with a walk to be named the Red MVP.
The Red All-Stars now lead the series 2-1 since the change in format in 2014.