Lady Eagles top OHS

Published 12:03 am Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Pleasant Home’s Caitlin Jernigan gives a high five to teammate Abigail Kelley (4) after she scored on an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against Opp. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

Pleasant Home edges Lady Bobcats 3-2; Byrd Ks 12

With the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Pleasant Home’s Caitlin Jernigan hit an inside-the-park home run to help lift the Lady Eagles to a 3-2 victory over Opp on Monday night.

“Heck of a hit by (Caitlin),” PHS coach Bradley Stephens said.

Jernigan led the Lady Eagles and went 2-for-4 behind the plate with the home run.

Pleasant Home improves to 19-10 on the season after its win over the Lady Bobcats last night. Opp falls to 25-11.

“They are just better than us right now — better than us today anyway,” OHS coach Jimmy Reeves said. “(Emily) Byrd pitched a great game. We couldn’t put anything together on her. It’s come down to one play every time.

“They make the play, and we don’t,” he said.

Byrd pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits and striking out 12 batters.

“She came on,” Stephens said about Byrd. “She’s hitting her spots. She plays hard.”

Opp took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Pleasant Home tied the game in bottom of the third with two outs thanks to an RBI triple from Byrd that scored Ashley Copeland, who reached on a walk.

The Lady Bobcats had plenty of opportunities to put run across with two outs, namely in the fourth and sixth innings.

However, Opp did come back in the top of the sixth when Octavia Thompson scored on Erica Ladson’s RBI double to cut the lead to 3-2.

“We’re not doing a good job with people on and two outs,” Reeves said. “Maybe people are just doing a lot better job than we are at rising to the occasion. But, we did fight back there and got in position to tie it and I was proud of that. We didn’t quit.”

Laiken Free went 2-for-4 to lead the Lady Bobcats; and Cayla Hughes went 1-for-3.

Pleasant Home’s Brianna Dozier went 1-for-3 with a single; Byrd went 1-for-1 with a triple; and Jordan McGhee went 1-for-2 with a single.

“It was a big win for us,” Stephens said. “Playing Coach Reeves, you’ve got the history. I have a lot of respect for him because he’s like a legend in my mind.

“They played smart and played well,” he said.

Pleasant Home and Opp will play in Elba’s Tune Up Softball Tournament this weekend, starting with pool play on Friday.

The Lady Eagles play Headland at 6 p.m., and Slocomb at 7:30 p.m. on Friday; and the Lady Bobcats play Highland Home at 3 p.m., and Headland at 4:30.

Tournament play on Saturday is single elimination.