GULF SHORES, Ala. – The Community Viqueens (14-2-2, 1-0) picked up a pair of impressive wins against two schools from Alabama in the Gulf Shores Classic on Tuesday, first taking down the Dale County Warriors (13-7, 3-0) in a low-scoring affair, 3-0, followed by an impressive 13-0 run-rule victory in four innings against the Waterloo Cougars (15-5, 4-0). 

In the first game of the day, a pitcher’s duel between Viqueens ace Annie Prince and Warriors’ ace Shayleigh Whitman ensued. Both starters threw a complete game, giving up just seven hits between them. 

Prince gave up just two of those hits while striking out an impressive 15 batters on just 86 pitches. Of those 86 pitches, 72 of them were strikes, an incredibly efficient 83% strike-throwing rate. 

On the other side, Whitman surrendered just one earned run on five hits and one walk while striking out seven batters on 83 pitches. Defensively, the Warriors committed four errors in the field, allowing two unearned runs to score for Community. 

Neither team scored in the first two innings before the Viqueens broke through first in the top of the third to go up 1-0. Community scored another in the top of the fifth, and then tacked on one final insurance run in the top of the seventh to reach the final margin of victory at 3-0.

Mattie Maxey and Carlie Blanton each recorded an extra-base hit with one double apiece. Maxey and Blanton both went 1-3 at the plate, but they were both left stranded on the basepaths. Taylor Wessner went 1-2 with one RBI on a sac-fly. Brooklyn Yoes recorded the other base hit, finishing 1-3 at the plate while also tallying a stolen base that led to her scoring one of the Viqueens’ runs. 

Later in the afternoon, the Viqueens’ bats woke up in a big way, slapping 14 hits in just three innings at the plate en route to a 13-0 run-rule shutout win against Waterloo.

Taylor Wessner got the start in the circle, going 4.0 complete innings and giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out six batters on just 62 pitches. Her counterpart, Addie Pollard, gave up 12 earned runs on 14 hits – including a pair of home runs – and two walks while striking out four batters on 91 pitches. 

After Wessner put up a zero in the top of the first, Community’s offense jumped on Pollard immediately, pushing across four runs in the inning. The Viqueens added just one run in the second, and then strung together an impressive eight-run third inning to balloon their lead to 13-0. Wessner got the final three outs in the top of the fourth to trigger the run-rule victory.

Maxey and Wessner both launched a home run for the Viqueens, and they went a combined 4-4 at the plate. Haylee Webb and Victoria Wells each tallied a double for Community as well. Webb batted 2-2 with one RBI and a triple to go with her double while Wells batted 1-3 with one RBI. McKenzie Tucker also legged out a triple while driving home a run in the process.

Community plays two more games in the Gulf Shores Classic on Wednesday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m. against the Wicksburge Panthers (Ala.). Immediately afterwards, the Viqueens will close out the week with a matchup against the Boaz Pirates (Ala.) at roughly 2:00 p.m.