NATCHEZ — Simpson Academy pitcher Bailey Sartin held Adams County Christian School to just three hits and struck out six batters as the Lady Cougars defeated the Lady Rebels 13-1 Tuesday afternoon in the MAIS District 4-AAA opener for both teams.

It was the home opener for ACCS, but from the start Simpson Academy was clearly the more aggressive team. And the Lady Cougars were the more fundamentally sound team when it came to making plays on defense.

“I’m very disappointed in how the team played. I take the blame for this loss. I’ve got to get these girls better prepared to play,” Lady Rebels head coach Rick Fife said. “We didn’t make the routine plays.”

Morgan Griffin led off the game with a double and later scored on Sartin’s RBI groundout. Sartin then proceeded to strike out two of the three batters she faced in the bottom of the first.

Simpson Academy scored another run in the top of the second inning before scoring three runs on five hits off ACCS pitcher Ashleigh Williams. The big hit of that frame was Molly Shotts’ two-run double and just like that the Lady Cougars had a 5-0 lead.

Even though Williams gave up 17 hits and at times had problems locating her pitches, the defense behind her could not get her out of some innings. The Lady Rebels committed four errors.

“She got a lot of ground balls. We’ve just got to make the plays on those ground balls,” Fife said.

ACCS finally got on the scoreboard when Harley Martin led off the bottom of the third with a double and later scored on the Lady Cougars’ only error of the game.

It was all Lady Cougars after that. They scored one run in each of the next two innings before putting up three runs in the top of the sixth and three more in the top of the seventh.

Annie Maddox hit a two-run home run to left field that made it a 10-1 in the top of the sixth and Simpson Academy scored on a sacrifice fly, a groundout and a base hit to go up 13-1.

Griffith went 3-for-3 and was walked twice, one intentionally, and scored four runs. Sartin and Shotts each went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in while Victoria Blakeney was 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Maddox went 2-for-4.

There was very little that ACCS could do at the plate against Sartin in her complete-game performance. Anna McDaniel and Jordan Petty were the only other Lady Rebels to record a hit off her.

“She kept us off balance. She threw a lot of change-ups early in the count. She was able to locate her pitches well,” Fife said.

ACCS (2-3) next plays against Central Private at 8 a.m. Saturday in its first game at the double-elimination Amite School Center Tournament.