After a close loss to Jamestown in the regional championship game last Thursday, the Gloucester High School varsity softball team rallied to defeat Dinwiddie in the VHSL Class 4 State quarterfinals on Tuesday evening. This win has secured the Lady Dukes’ spot in the state semifinals on Friday.
Dinwiddie
Gloucester earned a 3-0 shutout win over the Dinwiddie Generals Tuesday evening on the road. Autumn Cookson picked up the win as she threw a no-hitter at the Generals, striking out six batters and issuing only one walk. Offensively, Gloucester put together nine hits.
In the third inning, Cookson hit a single to right field. She promptly stole second base and later scored on a two-out single by Cameron Palas for a 1-0 lead.
Gloucester stretched the lead to 3-0 during the sixth inning as Hannah Horsley singled and then stole second base. She advanced to third base on a Winnie Carlton single. Carlton stole second and later scored with Horsley on a single hit by Addison Keister. Keister hit the ball down the middle of the field, which glanced off the second baseman’s glove and rolled into centerfield.
On the pitcher’s mound, Cookson was in control from the start as the Generals managed just four baserunners during the game with only two of them getting as far as second base. From the second inning to the sixth, Cookson retired 12 straight batters before a General reached base on an error.
The Lady Dukes were led offensively by Carlton who had two hits and a run scored and Keister who recorded two hits and two RBIs.
Jamestown
Gloucester became the Class 4 Region A runners-up after falling to the Jamestown Eagles, 2-1, in nine innings last Thursday at Stoney Run Athletic Complex in Newport News.
Cookson struck out 14 batters in the loss. With the game still scoreless in the eighth inning, Jamestown advanced to second base. A hit to centerfield looked like the winning hit until Keister, the second baseman, made a difficult running catch to end the inning.
During the top of the ninth inning, Cookson led off with a single to centerfield. She eventually scored on a Jamestown error to take Gloucester to a 1-0 lead. However, with two outs in the bottom of the inning, Eagle Allie Mair hit a single to drive two of her teammates home.
Gloucester will travel to Woodgrove High School in Purcellville on Friday to face James Wood in the state semifinals, beginning at 10 a.m. The winner of that match will return to Woodgrove Saturday at noon to play for the state championship title.
