CARY - The Holly Springs softball team jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead and never looked back Tuesday afternoon against the Cary Imps.

Holly Springs needed just six innings to defeat Cary 14-1 in what was the season opener for the Golden Hawks and second game of the year for the Imps.

Holly Springs coach Matt Clifton said he was pleased with his team’s effort at the plate.

“We hit the ball well and that’s something I was looking for this year,” Clifton said. “Last year we struggled a little bit at the plate and in the long run that hurt us when we got in the playoffs. It’s a strong way for us to start the season offensively. We have to shake the rust off. This is the first real game we have played in and overall the girls did a good job.”

As they did in their season-opening 16-0 loss to Apex on March 5, the Imps, who have four freshmen and no seniors on the team this season, struggled early and often due in large part to inexperience.

“We’re a completely brand new team,” Cary coach Heather Abruzzino said. “We graduated five players last year, so we are working together as a team. We’re working through a couple of road bumps, but other than that, it is just a matter of picking up our strengths and picking each other up after weaknesses.”

Clifton said he can relate to the difficulty Abruzzino and the Imps have had so far this season.

“I can tell they’re young,” Clifton said. “But they are doing some good things. I think Abruzzino is doing a good job of teaching them some basic, fundamental things. In the long run that is going to come and help her. I’ve been in the same situation she is in. I started with these girls when we were brand new and played with a young team. I’ve been reaping the benefits of laying that foundation and putting in that hard work early.”

Meanwhile, a pair of sophomores stole the show for the Lady Hawks. Erica Nunn pitched all six innings for Holly Springs and gave up just one run on two hits.

“Erica is, in my opinion, one of the best pitchers in the area,” Clifton said. “She’s a great competitor and she comes out and workshard. We look to her for a lot of things and she does a lot of good things for us.”

But Nunn said she expects herself to perform at an even higher level.

“I should have pitched a whole lot better,” Nunn said. “My curveball and my movement pitches were not working. I would like to improve my strikeouts from last year. That would help me a whole lot more for the summer season.”

Fellow sophomore Kristen Krebs, a shortstop, led the way offensively. Krebs played a big role in the Hawks four-run first inning, ripping a single to right field to drive in two runs and open up a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, the score was 4-0 after Krebs crossed home on a single to center field by senior first baseman Alyssa Snidemiller.

Krebs struck again in the top of the sixth inning, recording an inside-the-park home run on a rocket that split the gap in left center and gave her team its final two runs of the afternoon.

“It was basically right down the middle and I just saw it pretty well,” Krebs said.

Despite the offensive output by Holly Springs, Abruzzino said she was proud of freshmen pitchers Morgen Yarasheski and Emily Libero, who split the pitching duty with three innings apiece.

“I was very happy with the pitching,” Abruzzino said. “They both had great locations, inside and outside. They had some walks, but again, it comes and goes. Every game is different.”

Another positive thing Abruzzino said she will take away from the loss was her team’s persistent effort throughout the afternoon, which paid off for the Imps in the bottom of the fifth. Cary’s first base hit did not come until centerfielder Casey Brawn’s RBI single squirted through the right side of the infield with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Libero made it back-to-back hits with an infield single to the shortstop a few pitches later.

“It is good that we can just keep battling, no matter what the score is – just keep battling and coming back,” Abruzzino said. “It shows that you can do it and never quit.”