GULF SHORES — Andalusia couldn’t quite decide what gear it wanted to play in as the Lady Bulldogs fell in two games Friday at the Class 4A South Regional.

AHS played well during its two-game stint at the Gulf Shores Sports Complex. The girls hit well in the first game, but lost two good leads to fall 10-8 to Ashford in eight innings.

In the first game of the loser’s bracket, Andalusia pitched well and played good defense, but couldn’t put the bats together in a 4-1 loss to Clarke County.

“We didn’t play bad at all,” AHS coach Brad Garner said. “One game we hit it well, and had some bad breaks on defense. In the next game, I thought we pitched well and played good defense, and we just couldn’t get the bats going.

“If we hit the ball against (Clarke County) as well as we did against Ashford, then we win that game 7 or 8-0.”

Andalusia’s Haley Harper hit a double and scored on an Emily Terry single to account for her team’s only run in the second game. Abbie Young, who pitched a great game on the mound for her final outing, hit a double in the seventh.

“It is what it is,” Garner said. “Abbie pitched a great game. I was proud of her. That was her last one, and she went out there and threw a heck of a ball game. Win, lose or draw, both of our seniors (Young and Andi Hughes) can hold their heads up high. They did a great job, and a good job this season.”

 

Ashford 10, Andalusia 8 in 8 innings

Andalusia let a double drop in the outfield and Ashford scored two runs as a result in the seventh inning to tie the game at 8-all, forcing the game to go into extras.

In the top of the eighth, the Lady Yellow Jackets scored the go-ahead run when Ashton Ingram scored on a sac fly. Madison McArdle put her team up 10-8 after a RBI single.

Ashford’s Bailey Hughes hit a two-run double in the top of the seventh after a pitcher’s change by Andalusia to tie it at 8-all.

The Lady Bulldogs led throughout the majority of the game and played good defense to back the runs up when they had to.

In the bottom of the second inning, Andalusia’s Merikal McCaskill hit a three-run home run to give the Lady Bulldogs an early 4-0 lead.

Ashford answered in the third with three runs — two runs were unearned — to cut the game to 4-3.

Terry scored on a squeeze play and Young hit an RBI single for a 6-3 lead in the third inning.

Then, Rachel Rafferty’s two-run double in the fourth inched the Lady Yellow Jackets back to within one at 6-5.

Young hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth with two outs to give Andy a comfortable 8-5 lead.

Young led Andalusia with three hits and three RBIs; and Haley Snider and Terry went 2-for-4 each.

Hughes and Ingram went 2-for-5 each; Havikend Croom and Rebecca Laney went 3-for-5 each; and Katlyn Miller had two hits for Ashford.