Northside softball’s Karlee Fuller puts up 4 RBIs in region victory

On Northside softball’s Senior Night Wednesday, it was a freshman who led the Patriots to victory.

Freshman left fielder Karlee Fuller got the job done at the plate against Columbus, going 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs in the Lady Patriots’ 6-0 victory. Fuller’s biggest play was in her first at-bat, when she launched a pitch over the wall for Northside’s first three runs of the game.

“It felt great just to help out my team and get the win,” Fuller said of her home run. “It was inside, and I just hit it. It felt amazing.”

According to Northside head coach Brandon Jenkins, Fuller’s performance against the Lady Blue Devils (9-9, 7-3) was nothing out of the ordinary.

“She’s very, very mature for a freshman,” Jenkins said. “She’s not scared. She just gets up there, and she’s just going to see the ball, hit the ball and square it up. She tends to come up in big situations for us.”

While Fuller came through on a couple of occasions, her older teammates didn’t let her have all the fun.

Northside (16-1, 9-0) has two seniors on this year’s team, and both showed how valuable they are in Wednesday’s win. Hannah George started the game in the circle and threw six innings with three hits and 10 strikeouts. The Lady Blue Devils had no intention of allowing the North Carolina commit to beat them at the plate, as George was walked three times.

First baseman Ciara Jesus made sure the Lady Patriots weren’t hurting when the Lady Blue Devils took the bat out of George’s hand. Jesus was 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs, both on a single in the fifth inning which gave Northside its final runs of the contest.

“It was awesome,” Jenkins said of his seniors’ play. “Hannah’s been doing it for four years, and we didn’t expect anything less from her. Ciara, she’s had some big clutch hits for us over her four years. She had another big hit for us there to put the game away at the end.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Northside softball’s Karlee Fuller puts up 4 RBIs in region victory."