photo by Marcus Frazier

Adams County Christian School’s Kaitlan Melton leaps to make the catch as Huntington’s Abi Brown hustles toward third base Monday afternoon at Huntington. ACCS won 7-1 in five innings.

Lady Rebels pick up victory

By From staff reports | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, September 9, 2008

FERRIDAY — Adams County Christian School’s fast-pitch softball team made its return to the mound Monday afternoon as the Lady Rebels hit the road to take on the Huntington Lady Hounds.

And what a return it was as ACCS, playing its final game of a rain-shortened regular season, defeated Huntington 7-1 in five innings in what was the first game of a varsity doubleheader involving those two teams and Trinity Episcopal.

Even though it was the Lady Rebels’ first game in a week and a half, they played like they hadn’t missed a beat. Winning pitcher Mary Sanders struck out eight and allowed just one hit and the offense produced seven hits.

“This was probably one of our better games making contact. We put the ball in play a few times,” ACCS head coach Rick Fife said. “Mary had a real good game pitching. At times she was able to get her off-speed pitch over the plate and go corner to corner. Defensively, we were pretty solid.”

ACCS got off to a good start at the plate by scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. That was more than enough run support for Sanders, who kept Huntington off balance with her array of pitches.

The Lady Rebels led 5-0 until Huntington’s Abi Brown tripled and scored in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Lady Rebels added a run each in the third and fourth innings.

Fife added that the players were excited to get back into action after several days of practice. Sara Beth Fuller went 2-for-2 with both hits being triples. One of those triple brought in a run in the top of the second.

Next up for ACCS (2-5) is the MPSA District 3-AA Tournament, which will take place at Riverfield Academy in Rayville, La. The Lady Rebels, the No. 4 seed, will take on cross-town rival Trinity Episcopal, the No. 5 seed, Thursday at 9 a.m.

Huntington 6, Trinity Episcopal 5

FERRIDAY — After allowing seven hits in the loss to ACCS, Huntington pitcher Julie Moak answered with a six-strikeout performance as the Lady Hounds defeated the Lady Saints in three and a half innings in the second game of the doubleheader.

Moak held Trinity Episcopal to just two hits in four innings, but it was almost all for naught as the Lady Saints nearly rallied from an early 6-2 deficit — and that was with four of their starters participating at a cross-country met.

Trinity scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning before Huntington responded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the first. After the Lady Saints scored one run in the top of the second, the Lady Hounds answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second.

The Lady Saints scored one run in the top of the third and two runs in the top of the fourth to make it a one-run game, but Moak and the defense behind her made sure the visiting team wouldn’t get any closer.

Julia Corbett, Abi Brown and Logan Blackman each had a hit for Huntington, which finishes up District 6-A play today at 5 p.m. when it hosts Franklin Academy.

Franklin Academy 3, WCCA 1

WINNSBORO, La. — The Lady Rams were playing their first game in a week and a half and it showed offensively as they lost to the Lady Cougars in an important District 6-A game for both teams Monday night.

WCCA out-hit Franklin Academy five to two, but it was unable to take advantage of some scoring opportunities. As a team, the Lady Rams struck out an uncharacteristic 10 times to winning pitcher Collins.

“I thought we played well. We haven’t played since Saturday before last. We only practiced one day and that was Friday in the last two weeks. They played four games in a tournament in Jackson last Saturday” WCCA head coach Ray Olive said.

WCCA (14-5, 2-1) scored its only run of the game in the top of the third inning, which tied the score at 1-1. However, Franklin Academy won the game by scoring two runs in the bottom of the third.

“We couldn’t string together any hits. Hopefully, we’ve gotten some of the rust out of us,” Olive said. “Half of our girls still don’t have power at their homes. I was pleased with our effort. We made some mistakes that we don’t normally make.”

If Franklin Academy, 2-0 in district play, defeats Huntington today, it will have to defeat WCCA on Wednesday to host the District 6-A Tournament. However, if WCCA wins by three or more runs, then WCCA will host the district tournament. Game time on Wednesday is 5 p.m.

Franklin County 9, Richland 2

RICHLAND — After four scoreless innings, Franklin County’s offense came alive in the final three innings as they defeated the Lady Rangers Monday night to stay undefeated in Region 6-3A.

The game was originally scheduled to take place last month, but inclement weather forced it to be rescheduled for Monday and the Lady Bulldogs continued to look like the team to beat in 6-3A — at least from the fifth inning on.

Both Franklin County pitcher Mildred Starks and Richland pitcher O. Ross did their best to keep their respective team in the game by keeping it a 0-0 game through four innings. But it was the Lady Bulldogs that got the best of Ross down the stretch, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth, three in the top of the sixth and four in the top of the seventh.

Richland did tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth before Franklin County (8-2, 4-0) pulled away late. The Lady Bulldogs finished with 15 hits and took advantage of seven errors by the Lady Rangers.

Vintrice Briggs went 2-for-3 with a triple while Kierra Collins and Latoya Griffin both went 2-for-4 with a double.

Franklin County hosts Crystal Springs in Region 6-3A varsity action today at 5:30 p.m.