The Lady Indians improved their standing in the Southside District softball race last week. Powhatan’s two wins, an 18-8 decision at Greensville on Tuesday, and a 2-1 defensive thriller over Park View on the PHS diamond on Thursday, moved the Lady Indians to within one game of league-leading Nottoway, who suffered their first loss of the season last week to Bluestone. The Lady Indians, now 7-2 in the Southside and 10-5 overall, have three remaining district games.

Offense was the order of the day when the Lady Indians traveled to Greensville on Tuesday. Powhatan pounded out 14 hits, including a three run homer by Kelsey Waugh in the second, and took advantage of numerous Eagle errors en route to the win. Carly Davis had three hits for the day, while Shannon Summers had two hits to drive in three runs. Courtney Wrenn and Jessica Brooks also had two hits each for Powhatan. Brooks was the winning pitcher, striking out eight Eagle batters and giving up only three hits in five innings of work, while Ansley Hovermale relieved for two innings.

On Thursday against Park View, the Lady Indians fell behind in the fourth inning when the Dragons combined their only two hits of the day to take a 1-0 lead. Powhatan put together some hits of their own however, when DP Mackenzie Dawson (3 for 3) led off the fifth inning with a single up the middle of the field. Brittany Tomlinson (2 for 3) followed with another single, and Katelyn Garrett was called safe on an infield bunt to load the bases. Park View then committed their only defensive error of the game when Waugh’s grounder got away from the second baseman, and the Lady Indians scored two runs to take the 2-1 winning edge. Powhatan then retired the top of Park View’s batting order in the sixth inning and managed to escape a Dragon threat in the seventh to seal the win. Hovermale went the distance on the mound, striking out four while allowing only two hits.

The Lady Indian defense came up with a strong performance, committing only one error against the hard hitting Dragons.