Salem snapped a two-game losing streak, and in the process got its ace pitcher back on track.

The Salem Seminoles defeated cross-town rivals Rockdale 11-5 on Thursday two days after falling 13-2 to Madison County.

fSalem came out of the gate strongly, scoring four runs in the top half of the first inning. Whitney Loske led off the game with a single, and three batters later the bases were loaded for the Salem Seminoles and Joy Vason. Vason hit a ball to Rockdale's third baseman, who committed an error, allowing Loske to score. Patricia Clarke then hit an RBI single to score Lane Powell and Rylee Rogers. Voson later scored on a fielder's choice by Kristen George.

In the bottom of the inning, Rogers took the mound for the Salem Seminoles and quickly showed she had recovered from Tuesday's rough outing against Madison County.
Rogers finished with 10 strikeouts, allowing five hits, with four of Rockale's five runs scoring on passed balls.

"I can't speak enough about Rylee Rogers being able to bounce back and come in here," Salem coach Maurice Gibson said. "And I feel like she had a dominate performance.
"She deserves a lot of praise. I'm very proud of her. Some people could have folded up after a rough game against Madison."

Rogers cruised into the fourth inning, when Rockdale leadoff hitter India Davis hit a single to lead off the inning. Davis' hit was followed by a single by Candace Johnson, leading the way for both to score, cutting the deficit to Salem to 8-2.

The Salem Seminoles provided the offense for Rogers to feel at ease, with Clark scoring in the third inning after leading off with an error to the pitcher. Salem had another big inning in the fourth inning, scoring three runs on three hits. Vason connected on a two-out hit to start the inning, followed by another hit from Clark and a walk to Yorkman. Vason, Clarke and Yorkman scored in the inning.

"We hit the ball well," Gibson said. "It took us a minute to adjust to the pitcher, and they made some good adjustments."

The Salem Seminoles added two hits and a run in the fifth inning, and two more hits for two runs in the sixth.
Clark led the way with four hits, followed by three from Loske.

"Tricia Clarke went 4 for 5 tonight, that was big," Gibson said. "Whitney's one of those type players that wherever you put her, she's going to be good."

Rockdale tacked on two more runs on a hit by Davis and Breanna Richardson in the bottom of the sixth inning, and added another in the bottom of the seventh. Keyshaun Drake hit an RBI single in the final inning to score Erica Williams.

"Overall I think as a team we played well tonight," Gibson said. "We need this one really bad to stay in the hunt for region tournament."