Gloucester High School varsity softball players improved to 12-0 last Thursday by getting past home-standing Woodside, 9-5. 

Gloucester coach Red Lindsay said the Dukes were sharp through four plus innings as they built an 8-0 lead but shoddy defense led to five unearned runs in the latter part of the game. 

Gloucester took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when Kaleigh Arnett had a single to score Shelby Alto and Alyssa Shackleford hit a double to score Macy Robbins. The Dukes went up, 3-0, after Alissa Upton hit a double and Rebecca Jenkins had an RBI single.

Stringing together five hits with RBIs from Kalen Johnson, Jenkins and Robbins, the Dukes scored four runs to make it 8-0 in the fifth inning. Johnson moved it to 9-0 with a sixth-inning RBI.  Morgan Haywood pitched brilliantly for Gloucester and retired nine consecutive batters at one point. She gave up three unearned runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh when the Dukes lost focus and committed fiv...