North Duplin’s Abby Higginbotham beats the throw home on a first-inning, RBI sacrifice bunt groundout by teammate Lilly Fulghum during first-inning play against East Duplin. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
First-year North Duplin catcher Abigeal Brown gets the pitching call from the dugout. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin right-hander Lilly Fulghum scattered three hits and collected two strikeouts in a complete-game performance against East Duplin. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — A first-pitch, lead-off home run?
North Duplin didn’t break a sweat while East Duplin’s Ava Noble trotted around the bases early Monday evening.
“Good for her, she’s on the hunt, but that doesn’t rattle us easy,” ND head coach Jaime Kylis said of Noble. “In the dugout, we knew that we’ve got to come from behind and that’s not something that we’re not used to. Our older girls, even our [young] sophomores coming up, that was nothing to them.”
As expected, the Rebels dug in.
Lilly Fulghum changed her game plan inside the circle.
The sophomore, along with her teammates, swung the sticks and battered their county rival, 11-1, in six innings. North Duplin handed the reigning East Central 2A champs their fourth loss of the season.
Kylis couldn’t have been more pleased with her team’s response.
Daughter Addy Higginbotham legged out a perfectly-executed bunt, which ignited a first-inning rally. Higginbotham moved into scoring position on Reece Outlaw’s sharply-hit single and scored on Fulghum’s groundout to the pitcher.
Addy Spence plated Outlaw with a base knock.
“We made a stand … this is what we do,” Kylis said. “When you look at who contributed those two runs, those were our leaders and it was almost like telling them this is how we play ball. We’re not going to give in.
“One run is nothing.”
After Noble’s yard-clearing shot, North Duplin pushed across 11 consecutive runs. The dominating offensive outburst ended, appropriately, on Spence’s RBI groundout that scored Fulghum to end the game.
Outlaw just missed hitting for the cycle with a single, two doubles and a triple during her four official plate appearances. Higginbotham concluded the night 3-for-4 with two RBI. Fulghum (two RBI), Spence and Marissa Bernal contributed two hits apiece.
Eleven of the Rebels’ 14 runners who reach base scored.
Kylis’ team stranded two in scoring position and struck out just twice against East Duplin left-handers Callie Mewborn and Morgan Brown.
“I was really happy to see our hitters come through and, you know, we had a couple of kids that haven’t been hitting, hit [tonight],” Kylis said. “Our bottom of the order really did a great job. We did a good job cycling through our lineup in a good pace.
“We beat up that [outfield] fence a little bit.”
Meanwhile, Fulghum became untouchable.
The right-hander scattered three hits, issued four walks and sat down two Panthers on strikeouts. East Duplin left eight runners on base with six in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings combined.
Noble walked twice after her solo bomb.
“As a pitcher, you have to have that memory as a goldfish,” Kylis said of Fulghum. “You can’t think about it, just have keep pushing through. A big thing for us is winning the pitch, winning the inning, winning the momentum.
“I think that she trusts her defense. Today, they were on top of their game. That puts you at ease, you don’t have to worry about a lot of things.”
North Duplin (3-1 overall) launches defense of its Carolina 1A championship Thursday at Lakewood. Game time is 6 p.m. The Rebels have prevailed in 27 of their last 28 regular-season conference outings since 2021.
“We’re still trying to get grounded into our season, still trying to figure out some pieces and still trying to coach through the young ones … working on our plan,” Kylis said. “We’re really not too worried about anybody else, but we are still trying to figure out who we are. You know every year you’ve got to redefine yourself as a team.”
