Green hits walk-off single to lift AHS girls
Published 12:02 am Saturday, March 23, 2013
Andalusia’s Aiteria Green hit a walk-off RBI single in the fifth inning to help lift the Lady Bulldogs to a 13-3 area win over Monroe County on Friday night.
Green’s strike to center field came after AHS had put two runners on base with no outs. Courtesy runner Kanisha Johnson scored the winning run off of Green’s hit.
For the game, the Lady Bulldogs tallied 10 hits in their win over the Lady Tigers.
“Several girls hit the ball tonight,” AHS coach Brad Garner said. “I was very pleased with the hitting. Quite frankly, (Monroe County) hit the ball well early in the game. I thought we played pretty well.”
Garner was referring to when Monroe County’s Tia Crook hit a three-run home run in the top of the first to give the Lady Tigers a 3-0 lead. Crook’s homer came off of a hard inside pitch from Maggie Lambert.
“She has some of the best hands,” the Andalusia coach said of Crook. “That girl was tremendous. We pitched her well the other two times.”
While Crook may have been MCHS’ hitting star for the night, Andalusia’s Emily Terry went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
After flying out to short in the first inning, Terry hit a double and two singles for her next three at bats.
Andalusia was held scoreless in the bottom of the first inning, but came back strong in the second with five runs to go up 5-3.
Hannah Burnette reached on an error and later came in on Bre Dixon’s fielder’s choice to start the scoring in the second. Haley Snider, who reached on an error, scored on a passed ball.
Bre and her sister, Olivia, later scored in the inning after Terry hit a rocket double to center-left to bring the game to 4-3.
Terry later scored on Abbie Young’s fly out to left field.
Lambert kept the Lady Tigers’ hitters at bay as she faced only seven batters in her final two innings of work. She earned the win, allowing three runs on five hits and struck out two in three innings.
In the third inning, Green scored on Olivia’s force, and Bre later scored on Terry’s third RBI hit.
Young hit a high ball to center left and reached on an error, which allowed Terry and Andi Hughes to score to bring the game out of reach for MCHS. Johnson later scored on Burnette’s double to end the scoring in the third.
AHS led 12-3 after the fourth when Snider scored on a squeeze play and Bre made it home on a force out from the catcher to third base.
The Lady Bulldogs’ winning inning started when Young reached on an error and Lambert following with a single to left.
Green hit her game-winning single on an 0-and-1 count at the plate.
With this win, Andalusia improves to 4-4 overall, and 3-0 in Class 4A, Area 2. The Lady Bulldogs need to win one more area game to be able to host the area tournament.
Garner said it’s always good to be able to throw multiple pitchers on any given night.
“Abbie and Maggie are very good pitchers, but they’re very different in how they approach batters,” he said. “It gives people different looks when you bring one in behind the other.”
Young came in in the fourth and went on to allow no runs on two hits and struck out five.
Lambert also had a good hitting night, going 3-for-3 with a double and two singles. Young and Burnette had a hit and an RBI each.
In junior varsity action, the Lady Bulldogs won 12-2.
The Lady Bulldogs will be back in action today at 9 a.m. against Brantley in Straughn’s annual KLD Tournament at SHS.