Ali Glover’s shutout leads South Stanly to the 1A softball state title
Ali Glover tossed a shutout and Mattie Poulos drove in two runs Saturday, as South Stanly blanked Bear Grass Charter 4-0 and captured the 1A girls’ softball state championship.
The Bulls swept the best-of-three series in two games, undoubtedly erasing some of the sting of last year’s three-game championship series loss to Camden County.
It was the third state title alltime for South Stanly, which also won in 1998 and 2012.
In Friday’s series opener, the Bulls needed a last-inning, two-out rally to win 4-3. Cassidy Smith’s bases-loaded, three-run triple ended that game.
Glover was named the most valuable player of the 1A championship series.
On Saturday, she dominated.
She struck out nine Bears’ hitters and finished the series with 26 strikeouts.
South Stanly pulled ahead in the top of the first inning, when Kassie Swink singled, went to second on Alexis Howard’s infield single, and scored when Poulos doubled off the center-field wall.
The Bulls made it 2-0 in the top of the fourth, when Mary-Ryan Hinson walked, sent to second on a sacrifice, advanced to third on an infield out, and then scored on a passed ball.
In the fifth, Howard opened with a double, went to third on a sacrifice, and scored on a ground ball by Poulos.
South Stanly added its final run in the sixth, when Hinson smacked a one-out double, went to third on a sacrifice, and scored on Kinsley Tyson’s single.
Meanwhile, Glover struck out the side in the second and third innings and fanned two more hitters in the bottom of the seventh.
This story was originally published June 4, 2022 at 12:56 PM.
