Nation Ford’s Gabe Simmons catches a ball as a Blythewood runner steals second base during their game Friday evening.

The Nation Ford baseball team dropped game three of their series against the Blythewood Bengals falling 12-1 Friday night.

Nation Ford struggled on the mound and at the plate getting just two hits in the game. Defensively, the Falcons made a couple of errors, but their pitching allowed 13 hits as Nation Ford used four pitchers over six innings. Blythewood took the series two out of three games.

With the loss to Blythewood, the Falcons are now 7-5 overall and 3-3 in Region 3-5A play.

Blythewood scored in every inning, getting things started in the first with three runs to set a precedence for the remainder of the game.

Ben Chuttey got the start on the mound for Nation Ford. Blythewood got to him early as he pitched just one inning allowing seven hits and four runs.

Things didn’t get any better for the Falcons pitching staff as the Bengals scored five runs on the next two innings. Jonah Touchstone pitched the second and third innings allowing four runs, three of which were earned, on two hits and a walk.

Nation Ford got on the board in the third inning as Jacob Pettit singled to start things off and was followed by a single from Gabe Simmons to drive in Pettit. Pettit and Simmons hits were the only two for the game for the Falcons.

The score made it 8-1 at that point before Blythewood would tack on runs in the fourth and fifth innings and then two more in the sixth inning before closing the game out on the mercy rule.

Liam Quinn and Kaden Barnett closed out the game for Nation Ford on the mound. Quinn went an inning and a third and Barnett went an inning and two thirds. Nation Ford pitching allowed 10 earned runs and walked four in the game.

Nation Ford head coach Jeff Stack said he needed to better prepare his team.

“We have to prepare better,” he said. “I have to prepare them better to play. Point blank. Expectations were to compete and compete to win the series. And I got to do a better job getting them ready.”

Next week Nation Ford has a three-game series against Rock Hill.

March 24 Roundup

Nation Ford

The Nation Ford softball team won 9-1 over Spring Valley on the road to improve to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in Region 3-5A play. Jackie Knol, Brooke Ressler and Alaina Holyfield each had two hits in the win for the Falcons.

Fort Mill

The Fort Mill baseball team scored 16 runs in the top of the seventh to beat Rock Hill in game three of their series and improve to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in Region 3-5A.  Brent Laughter went 4-5 in the game and Eli Craddock went 2-6 with four RBIs. Zach Jennings went 1-3 with five RBIs and Carter Blankinship went 1-6 with three RBIs as well. Fort Mill was down 6-4 going into the last inning before blowing the game open. The Jackets got 10 hits in the top of the seventh to score the 16 runs.

The Fort Mill softball team lost 12-2 to Clover. Fort Mill fell to 8-2 overall and 1-2 in the region. They managed just one hit off the bat of Vicki Lott, who went 1-2 with a home run.

The Fort Mill boys soccer team lost to Clover 1-0 falling to 2-2 in the region and 5-7-1 overall.

Catawba Ridge

The Catawba Ridge boys’ soccer team beat Northwestern 5-3 to improve to 5-0 in Region 3-4A and 12-2-1 overall on the season.

The Catawba Ridge softball team beat Northwestern 13-0 to also stay undefeated in region play at 5-0 and 12-2 overall.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep