DHC comes back to capture NCHSAA 4A softball state title

The D.H. Conley softball did not score a run for the first 10 innings of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A softball championship series. When the Vikings got going, however, they pulled out a 2-1 victory in Saturday’s second game of the series, before winning the decisive third game, 3-0, later on Saturday at the Duke University softball diamond.

It was a series dominated by pitching and over the first two games East Forsyth’s Kierston Deal and Conley’s Emma Adams were brilliant. In the final game, however, DHC head coach Wayne Dean sent sophomore Olivia Hadnott to the circle and she responded with five no hit innings. She struck 11 and did not allow a hit until two were down the sixth.

Nursing a 3-0 lead in the seventh, Hadnott ran out of gas as the Eagles loaded the bases with no one out. That’s when Dean turned back to Adams who worked out of the jam with a line drive double play and a strike out to set off an exciting celebration by the Vikings, who won their first state crown since 2015.

Trinity Nichols, who tripled and was left stranded in Friday’s 1-0 loss, made things happen in game three. In the fourth inning, she was hit by a pitch to leadoff the fourth inning and promptly stole both second and third base and scored when Adams, of all people, drilled a single up the middle.

In the fifth, sisters Riley and Mia Trueblood combined to add the second run, as Riley singled and later scored on Mia’s triple to right. The Vikings added one final insurance run, with another triple, this time off the bat of Olivia Knight, scoring Mia Trueblood.

Adams was named the Most Valuable Player of the Championship Series as the Vikings won their first state title since 2015.

In Saturday’s first game, having ended inning after inning in frustration against Deal, who will pitch next for the University of Oklahoma next year, D.H. Conley finally broke through in the fourth inning of the second game, scoring twice and earning a 2-1 victory. Diel finished with 40 strikeouts in the series.