Late rallies give SHS two tourney wins
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 9, 2010
Straughn put together two late game rallies at the Pleasant Home annual softball tournament Thursday night, as the Lady Tigers went on to beat the Lady Eagles 4-2, and Flomaton 4-3.
Despite the wins and earning the No. 1 seed in Pool A, Straughn coach Ray Wilson said his team didn’t “execute” well.
“We didn’t execute too well today with bunts, with base running,” Wilson said. “We made a lot of base running errors. We were very fortunate to win both games, but then I said, ‘Hey, the good thing is that you found a way in the end.’ Any time you can win close games like that, hopefully it can give you confidence when you do get in close games like that.”
In the last game of the night, Pleasant Home earned the No. 2 seed in Pool A after defeating Flomaton 8-2.
Straughn girls 4, Pleasant Home girls 2
Trailing 2-0, Straughn (21-9-1) scored four runs in the fifth inning on five hits and no walks to seal the win over the Lady Eagles.
Lady Tigers’ center fielder Kelli Wilcox started the inning with a single and Kari Biggs bunted her to second base.
After Biggs, Katie Beck hit a double on the first pitch to put runners on second and third base.
At the top of the order, Straughn’s Stephanie Bracewell, facing a 1-0 count, hit an RBI single to score Wilcox.
During her two previous at bats, Kaitlynn Wiggins popped up to the pitcher and right field, respectively.
The third time was the charm as Wiggins nailed a two-run triple to score Beck and Bracewell to give the Lady Tigers their first lead of the game.
Straughn’s Tiffany Taylor hit an RBI single to then score Wiggins.
Pleasant Home made its presence felt in the second inning when Robin Weaver scored on an RBI tripe from Megan Cook. Cook later came around on an RBI single from Kat Dozier.
Winning pitcher Katy Messick allowed two runs on five hits, no walks and struck out five in seven innings.
Losing pitcher Emily Byrd allowed four runs in two innings on five hits.
Bracewell was 1-for-3 with one single, one RBI, one walk and one run; Wiggins was 1-for-3 with one triple, two RBIs and one run; Taylor was 2-for-3 with one single, one double and one RBI; Wilcox was 1-for-3 with one single and one one; and Beck was 1-for-2 with one double and one run.
Pleasant Home’s Weaver was 3-for-3 with one single, one double, one triple and one run; and Cook was 1-for-2 with one triple, one RBI and one run.
Straughn girls 4, Flomaton girls 3
The Lady Tigers trailed this time 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning when they put together three runs on four hits, one walk and two errors.
Straughn’s Hannah Twitty scored on an RBI double from Bracewell, and Wiggins came through for her team again at the plate hitting a two-run single to score Beck and Bracewell. Bracewell made it home on a throwing error by Flomaton’s short stop.
Flomaton’s Avery Godwin hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the game to give the Lady Canes 1-0 early lead.
Paige Harnell later came in during the inning on an RBI single from Chelsea Brown.
Flomaton scored its last run in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI double from Hailey Lambeth to score Harnell.
Bracewell was 2-for-4 with two doubles, one RBI and two runs; Wiggins was 2-for-4 with two singles and two RBIs; Teel was 2-for-3 with two singles; Johns was 2-for-3 with two singles; Wilcox was 2-for-3 with one single and one double; Twitty was 0-for-3 with one run; and Beck was 1-for-3 with one single and one run.
Wiggins earned the win for the Lady Tigers pitching seven innings allowing three runs on five hits and had nine strikeouts.
Pleasant Home girls 8, Flomaton girls 2
Pleasant Home utilized its small ball play in the third and fifth innings to score six runs, respectively.
Its defense got in some jams, but was able to come out on top to leave three runners on base with two outs in the third inning with McGee on the rubber.
“It just feels so good to win one,” Pleasant Home coach Jimmy Reeves said. “We played our small ball game, which we’re pretty good at. We ran the bases well, had good pitching and I thought my catcher played well (Copeland).”
Reeves said the main difference between the first game and the third game was that his team didn’t falter during the game.
“I thought we played a good game in the first game,” he said. “We’ve been kind of going brain dead in one inning and have played shutout ball the rest of the time. We’re trying to figure it out.”
The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning on a single from Caitlin Jernigan and Kayla Woods.
Jernigan later scored on an RBI single from Copeland, while Woods and Byrd scored on a two-run single from Gina Davis.
Flomaton scored one run in the first and one in the third innings.
Pleasant Home’s three runs in the fifth inning came on bunts and essential base running from Copeland, Davis, Cook and Dozier.
Copeland scored on a single from Cook, Davis scored on a single from Dozier and Cook scored on a double from McGee.
Davis earned the win for the Lady Eagles on the mound pitching two innings, allowing one run on one hit and had two strikeouts.
McGee also had a good night on the mound pitching two innings allowing one run on four hits.
Byrd got the save pitching one inning and allowing no hits.
On Saturday, Straughn will begin its single elimination portion of the tournament at noon against the winner of Flomaton and the No. 2 seed in Pool B. Pleasant Home starts at 10:30 a.m. against the No. 3 seed in Pool B.