NATCHEZ — Two local teams trying to get some semblance of momentum going this 2019 season faced off Tuesday afternoon when Cathedral High School played host to Adams County Christian School.

After two scoreless innings, Cathedral’s bats woke up in the bottom of the third inning and  the Lady Green Wave scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth as they defeated the Lady Rebels 6-3.

Allie Feltus had a big performance at the plate for Cathedral as she went 3-for-4 with a triple, a home run, four runs batted in, and two runs scored. She was the only player for either team who had at least two base hits.
“I thought we played a good game. Allie Feltus had a great night,” Lady Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said.

At the halfway point of MAIS District 4-4A, this was a pivotal game for both teams with four teams from this district advancing to the postseason a month from now. Beesley said he was pleased with how his team played after being shut out by Silliman Institute just 24 hours earlier.

“We rebounded well. I was worried about the mental side of us going into the game,” Beesley said.

ACCS scored one run in the top of the first inning for the first lead of the game. That lead would not last very long as Cathedral struck for three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-1 lead.

However, the Lady Rebels answered with a two-run rally in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Then the Lady Green Wave would take the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. The home team added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Fisher Iseminger had a double, one RBI, and one run scored. Winning pitcher Madeline Smith went all seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and seven walks. Smith helped her own cause by going 1-for-3 with one RBI.

As for Smith performance on the mound, Beesley said, “She had a great game. She had a couple of jams in the middle of the game. We were able to hold on in the end.”

Paris Harveston was 1-for-2 with one RBI and Cassi Haydel had one RBI despite going 0-4 at the plate. Becca Cowan pitched all six innings for the Lady Rebels, giving up six earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts, three walks, and one hit batter.

ACCS (1-9, 0-4) is scheduled to play at the Parklane Academy Tournament on Saturday. Cathedral (5-9, 1-3) is scheduled to play at the Centreville Academy Tournament on Saturday against host Centreville at 9:30 a.m., a team from New Orleans at 1:30 p.m., and Columbia Academy at 4:30 p.m.

Oak Forest Academy 10, ACCS 5 (Monday)

NATCHEZ — Emilee Casanova walked 13 batters and threw four wild pitches. Yet she overcame that ineffectiveness by allowing just five hits and striking out 10 batters in a complete-game outing as the Oak Forest Academy Lady Yellow Jackets held on for a 10-5 win over the Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels Monday night in an MAIS District 4-4A game.

It was a good thing that Oak Forest gave senior Emilee Casanova, who threw 172 total pitches with only half of them for strikes, plenty of run support in the first two innings or the outcome would have been in serious doubt for Oak Forest. The Lady Yellow Jackets scored three runs in the top of the first inning and added five runs in the top of the second for an 8-0 lead.

ACCS cut into the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning and one run in the bottom of the fifth to make it an 8-3 game, but Oak Forest answered with two runs in the top of the sixth. The Lady Rebels tried to rally one last time, but could only manage two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Five errors by its defense and the not getting key hits to bring in runners in scoring position hurt ACCS’s chances of picking up its first district win. The Lady Rebels left a total of 15 runners on base.

Freshman Ellee Casanova, Emilee’s younger sister, went 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored. A pair of juniors also stepped up for the visitors from Amite, La. Jenna Kirkland went 3-for-5 with one RBI and three runs scored while Jade Johnson was 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.

Kate Parsons went 2-for-3 with a double and one run scored to lead the Lady Rebels at the plate. Becca Cowan was charged with the loss after giving up 10 runs, eight of them earned, on 14 hits with four strikeouts, one walk, and one hit batter over her seven innings.

Silliman Institute 12, Cathedral 0 (Monday; 4 innings)

NATCHEZ — The Silliman Institute Lady Wildcats used a six-run rally in the top of the third inning to break open a close game as they needed just four innings to defeat the Cathedral High School Lady Green Wave 12-0 in four innings Monday afternoon in MAIS District 4-4A action.

The game was originally scheduled to take place at Silliman Institute in Clinton, La., but inclement weather forced the game to be moved to Cathedral’s softball field – a decision that head coach Craig Beesley said was made at 3 p.m. that day.

And that also meant that Silliman would now be the visiting team. Despite the change in location, it didn’t seem to bother the Lady Wildcats one bit.

Silliman rode the arm of C. Sibley and the bat of A. Caime to remain among the top teams in district play. Sibley gave up just one hit, a double by Lauren Dunbar, struck out two and walked three over four innings. Caime belted two home runs in two at-bats off starting pitcher Madeline Smith. Caime went 2-for-2 with four runs batted in and three runs scored. C. Pelt had a double, drove in two runs, and scored two runs.

Smith went 3 and 1/3 innings for the Lady Green Wave. She gave up 12 runs, but only five of them were earned, on seven hits, struck out three, and walked four. Anna Poole came on in relief and pitched two-thirds innings of shutout ball. Dunbar was 1-for-1 and was walked once.