Camden’s strong start to the softball season continued on Saturday with the Lady Bulldogs finishing with a 3-1 record and taking second place to host Lewisville in the Lewisville Lions Tournament played in Richburg.

Lynn Looney’s troops came away from the event with a 6-1 record on the season heading into Tuesday’s Region 4-AAA game with Richland Northeast.

The Lady Bulldogs needed just five innings to take down 4A Ridge View, 11-1, in Saturday’s opener.

CHS jumped on the Lady Blazers for four runs in the first inning with Whitley Kahler getting the ball rolling with a leadoff single before stealing second and third and later, scoring the game’s first run. The Lady Dogs tacked on a run in the third to make it 5-0 as Bri Dow smacked a one-out out triple and was driven in by Kennedi Stokes. A six-run fifth blew this one open with Stokes fueling the rally with a three-run double.

Stokes improved to 4-0 with the mound victory as she went the distance, allowing a run on four hits while fanning seven and walking two. She allowed only two base runners --- one on a walk and another on a single. --- over a final three-inning stretch in which she struck out five.

Camden collected 10 hits with Kahler going 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases. Dow was 2-for-2 with a double, triple and an RBI while Stokes had two doubles in three at-bats while driving home five runners.

The Lady Bulldogs then knocked off Lewisville, 6-1, in a six-inning affair with Stokes getting the win with a complete game six-hitter. She struck out 10 and walked four batters.

Camden jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Kahler led off with a double, stole third and scored on a Hanna Baker sacrifice fly. LHS scored to even things in a first in which Stokes fanned consecutive batters with the bases loaded.

The guests scored five times on the strength of seven hits with Alisha Robinson driving home a pair with a double.

CHS had a dozen hits in the victory with Kahler going 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. Robinson had two hits with a pair of RBI while Dominique Johnson had a double and a single in three trips to the plate. Dow had another two-hit game with an RBI.

A 4-1 win over South Pointe put Camden in the championship game. The lone run for the Lady Stallions in the five-inning encounter was unearned.

Stokes went all five frames and gave up three hits with five strikeouts and a walk.

Camden jumped to a 1 -0 lead in the first as Kahler started the game with a double and then stole third. She scored on a Baker ground out. CHS added a second run in the second courtesy of a two-out run-scoring single by Dow.

A two-run bottom of the fourth, in which Camden collected four hits, put this one in the books. Johnson led off the inning with a double to right with Kahler following with an infield hit to put runners on the corners. With two gone, Stokes and Robinson had consecutive run-producing single to hike the lead to 4-0.

South Pointe averted the shutout with an unearned run in the fifth in which Stokes struck out two to end the threat and secure the win.

Kahler was perfect in three trips to the plate with a double and a stolen base while Stoke went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the nine-hit attack.

Lewisville avenged its earlier loss to the Lady Bulldogs by winning the championship contest, 10-2, while giving Camden its first loss of the season.

The Lions did their damage on 12 hits while Camden was held to six. CHS was its own worst enemy by committing eight errors which led to seven unearned runs.

The hostesses led 4-0 after scoring two runs in each of the first two frames. Camden’s scoring all came in the bottom of the third when Christian Welch belted a two-run single to right field to cut the lead in half to 4-2.

LHS scored two unearned runs in the fourth and four more unearned runs in the seventh to hand Stokes a tough-luck loss on a night in which she allowed three earned runs while fanning six and walking three batters.

Baker and Dow both had two-hit games for the tournament runners-up.