Sports Writer

The Charles Henderson high school softball team didn’t have much time to dwell on last Friday’s loss to Enterprise.

The Lady Wildcats made its second trip to the Troy Sportsplex in less than a week Thursday, but CHHS starting pitcher Rachel Spurlin made sure the outcome was a different one.

Spurlin took a no-hitter into the top of the fifth and threw just 63 pitches, cruising to a 7-1 win over the Lady Wildcats, avenging a 3-0 loss last week in the Lady Trojan Classic.

Spurlin was in control throughout, allowing only two hits, fanning five and walking none. The right-hander faced a 3-2 count twice, allowed four balls out of the infield and only five batters saw more than five pitches in an at-bat.

CHHS head coach Steve Haug said he could not have asked for more from his pitcher.

"Rachel pitched an absolute perfect game," he said. "She didn’t throw that many pitches and their pitcher threw over 100. We hit the ball great tonight, we came out with the bat whipping the ball. We burnt the centerfielder twice, then they started backing up and then we had some fall in. We just hit the ball well all night. We’ve been struggling there a little bit so it was great. Defensively too, they didn’t get anything through, we didn’t make any mistakes. I couldn’t be prouder of them."

The Lady Trojans hit the ball early and often, starting in the second inning. Ashton Spann led off the inning with a triple and Allie Park followed with an RBI double. CHHS added another run in the third when Andrea Ellis scored on a passed ball and extended the advantage to 4-0 in the fourth with two unearned runs off Enterprise starter Teela Witherspoon. The Enterprise defense didn’t help Witherspoon’s cause, committing four errors in the game that led to three Lady Trojan runs.

Meanwhile, Spurlin was handling the Lady Wildcat offense with ease. The first Enterprise hit and first ball to leave the infield was a lead-off double by Vicky Potter in the fifth. But Spurlin made quick work of the next three hitters, forcing two ground outs and a fly out, using just seven pitches, to end the inning.

Enterprise broke through with its only run with two-outs in the sixth. Niketia Davis tripled and scored on a throwing error to cut the deficit to 4-1. But CHHS responded in the bottom half of the inning as Samantha Johnson drove home two runs with a double, highlighting a three-run outburst that put the game away.

Clair Goodson, Ellis and Johnson led a 12-hit CHHS attack with two hits apiece. Every Lady Trojan starter had at least one hit as CHHS improved to 15-6.