BUFORD, Ga. — For most of Wednesday’s season-opening showdown with defending Class 7A state champion North Gwinnett, Buford was poised to christen its brand new softball complex in grand style.
Then it looked like the Lady Bulldogs were ready to spoil the grand opening. Then the Lady Wolves got the fairy-tale ending.
Buford senior Emma Castorri stroked a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and fellow senior Olivia Duncan closed out a complete-game effort with a quick 1-2-3 seventh inning to preserve a thrilling 2-1 victory.
The matchup was part of the annual Rumble at the Ridge tournament.
“First game of the year with the new stadium, the matrix board, everything, it was an awesome win for us,” Buford coach Trent Adams said. “North Gwinnett is a great program, it always has been, so it’s great to be able to have them on the schedule.”
It figured to be a low-scoring affair with Clemson-commit Duncan in the circle and junior Addison Miles digging in for the Lady Bulldogs. The pair did not disappoint.
After Duncan worked around a lead-off single from Olivia Chuck to open the game, the Lady Wolves grabbed the early lead in the bottom of the first.
Madison Pickens led off with a double down the left field line and scored two batters later on an RBI infield hit from Adriana Martinez for a 1-0 lead. However, they could not add on and would eventually strand runners in each of the first three innings, two in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Duncan got rolling, retiring 11 straight, including five straight strikeouts at one point until Ella Janish beat out an infield single in the fourth for North Gwinnett.
Duncan’s first trouble came in the fifth when Mary Grace Nellis walked and stole second. Landy Rabitsch later reached on an infield hit to give North Gwinnett a pair of runners in an inning for the first time. But Duncan got a fielder’s choice from Nadia Glass and induced Chuck to line out to first to get out of the jam.
North Gwinnett, however, did not go away and would tie it up at 1 in the sixth. Bella Faw doubled to lead off and scored on a one-out double from Janish. It could have been more, but Janish was stranded at third as Duncan got a pair of groundouts to escape the inning.
It looked destined for extra innings as Miles, who had retired 9 of 10 batters until Castorri's big hit, got help from her defense to throw out a Buford base runner and got a line out from Caroline Stanton for two quick outs. But Castorri broke the tie as her blast just cleared the left field wall to reclaim the lead for the Lady Wolves, 2-1.
Duncan did the rest. She finished with nine strikeouts, including her final two to end the game, walked just one, and held the Lady Bulldogs offense to just 2-of-7 with runners in scoring position.
“You’re going to be as good as your seniors, and we had our two big seniors really step up,” Adams said. “Olivia was a workhorse for us today. Her pitch count got up, and it was hot, but she did a great job.”
Duncan and Emma Manders each had a hit as well for Buford, who was just 1-of-4 with RISP as Miles fanned four and walked two.
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday in the Rumble tournament. Buford (1-0) will take on Lambert at 9 a.m. and Lakeside-Atlanta at 2 p.m., both at home.
North Gwinnett (2-2) will play Alpharetta at Peachtree Ridge.
