Stephanie Sturgis - Press Sports Editor

Race to the plate — Gleason's Katlin Gaylord slides into home before Lady Yellowjacket pitcher Brantley Wiley can corral a throw from catcher Jordan Galey during District 14-A softball action Wednesday. Gleason earned an 8-1 win over its host.

The Gleason Lady Bulldogs were unkind visitors in spoiling the 2008 home opener of the Greenfield Lady Yellowjackets.
Gleason put four runs on the scoreboard in the second inning to build a lead it never did relinquish on the way to an 8-1 victory over the host Lady Jackets Wednesday afternoon.
Gleason senior Riley Auven-shine got the action started with the first of her two doubles on the day. An error put two Lady Bulldogs on base as Taylor Wharton reached first.
Taylor Stout followed with a single before Greenfield starter Brantley Wiley struck out a pair. However, another error in the field by the Lady Jackets extended the inning and put Breeanna Wallace on base. Auvenshine, Wharton, Stout and Wallace all scored in the at-bat. Lacie Trevathan also singled.
The Lady Bulldogs added a run to their lead in the top of the third inning. Katlin Gaylord singled and advanced to second on a groundout. Passed balls allowed her to move to third base and to cross home plate for a 5-0 Gleason advantage.
The Lady Yellowjackets got a run back in the home half of the fourth. With one out, Wiley reached and advanced to second on a two-base error. She moved to third on Emily Randolph's grounder and rounded the bag and scored on a throwing error. Auvenshine, the Lady Bulldogs' starting pitcher, kept the damage to a minimum by striking out the next two Lady Jackets she faced to end the inning and strand Randolph on first base.
After Wiley retired the Gleason girls in order in the top of the fifth inning, the Lady Jackets appeared to be on the verge of climbing closer on the scoreboard in their half of the inning. However, an error on the base paths kept Greenfield from adding to its run total. Hailey Raynor drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Auvenshine struck out the next two batters, but dealt a walk to Jasmine Allen. On ball four to Allen, Raynor broke for third base, but Lady Dawg catcher Taylor Stout threw a laser to Gleason third baseman Malorie James. James applied the tag to Raynor to end the at-bat with Gleason still in front, 5-1.
The Lady Dawgs padded their lead in the sixth with three runs on three hits and four Greenfield errors. Auvenshine opened the at-bat with a double. Greenfield got the next two batters out, but Auvenshine scored on a throw to first. James reached on an error. Ashley Coble followed with a single down the right field line. Both James and Kayla Goodlow, running for Coble, scored the final two Gleason runs on Lady Jacket errors.
G'field got its leadoff batter on in both the sixth and seventh but both runners were erased in force outs at second base.
For the game, Auvenshine got the win while striking out eight batters and walking three. She only allowed one hit, a single by Morgan Bodkins.
Wiley was tagged with the loss, giving up eight hits while striking out five. All eight of Gleason's runs were unearned.