Bridgeport Softball Starts Season With 3-1 Record, 1st Conference Win
By Michael Minnich on March 31, 2026
Bridgeport’s softball team has gotten off to a strong start in 2026, with the Indians winning their first three games before a setback at Preston.
On March 21, they pulled out a 5-4 road win over Capital in their final at-bat.
Reese Van Zant was 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI out of the leadoff spot.
Avery Humble and Breanna Laxton both singled and scored for Bridgeport.
In the seventh, with the score tied at 4, Amayah Clark worked a one-out walk, stole second, then moved to third on an Olivia Corder single.
A passed ball then brought Clark come for the winning run.
Bridgeport struck in the bottom of the first of a back-and-forth game as Van Zant singled and came around on three passed balls.
Capital tied it in the top of the second, but Bridgeport retook the lead in the home half of the inning as Laxton led off with a single and scored on Van Zant’s two-out double to left.
It remained 2-1, Bridgeport, until the top of the fifth, when Capital put two on the board.
In the bottom of the fifth, Humble walked, moved to third on a Mahaylee Messenger single and came home on a Clark groundout.
Bridgeport led 4-3 in the sixth thanks to a Van Zant double and a Gracia Knight RBI groundout before Capital tied it again in the top of the seventh to set up the late heroics.
Addison Mike worked around 11 hits and didn’t walk anyone for the complete-game victory in the circle.
Three days later at Mylan Park, the Tribe was hot early, scoring five runs in the first inning and four runs in the second inning to build a 9-0 advantage over Bethlehem Center (Pa.) en route to a 13-7 victory, adding four runs in the bottom of the sixth after Bethlehem Center had rallied.
Messenger led the way in the cleanup spot, smacking three hits, including a double, and driving in three runs while scoring two.
Knight homered in a 1-for-3 showing with three runs and three RBIs and Van Zant scored three runs.
In the first, three walks led to a Messenger RBI single, then walks forced in two runs and passed balls plated two more.
Three more walks to begin the second were followed by Messenger’s two-RBI double to right.
Emma Dale bunted home Humble and Laxton added an RBI single.
In the sixth, Mike singled with one away, then Peyton Kelley walked and Van Zant stroked an RBI single.
Knight’s three-run inside-the-park homer set the final score.
Bridgeport then edged rival Robert C. Byrd, scoring three runs in the fifth inning and four in the sixth to overturn a 7-2 deficit and win, 9-8.
Messenger doubled in a 2-for-4 game with a run and three RBIs, while Humble tripled in a 2-for-4 showing with a run and two batted in.
Van Zant added a pair of singles, three runs and an RBI and Kelley went 2-for-2 with two runs in the 9-hole.
Down 3-0 after a half-inning, Bridgeport cut into the deficit in the bottom of the first.
Van Zant reached on a dropped third strike and Humble punished the mistake with a one-out RBI triple to right and later scoring on a wild pitch.
RCB then scored a run in the top of the second and three more in the fourth.
The Tribe’s rally began in the bottom of the fifth.
Kelley doubled, Van Zant singled and Moore reached on an error to load the bases.
Humble moved everyone up a station with an RBI single, then Messenger did the same with a base hit to right.
With two outs, a passed ball scored Knight: 7-5.
RCB went back up three on a Lexi Hardy solo homer in the top of the sixth.
A walk to Corder and singles by Kelley and Van Zant brought in a run, then Messenger delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI to tie the score.
Clark then knocked in the eventual winning run with a single to center.
Things faded away for Bridgeport late at Preston, though, as the Knights broke a 2-2 tie with five unanswered runs.
Bridgeport scored single runs in the top of the first, on a Messenger RBI groundout, and the top of the third, on a Clark fielder’s choice.
Clark had two of Bridgeport’s three hits, with Humble’s single the other knock.
Bridgeport (3-1) is at North Marion on Thursday, South Charleston on Friday and Lewis County on Monday before hosting Philip Barbour on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Editor's Note: Photos by Joe LaRocca.
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