ST. JOSEPH, La. — Tali Beard went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and five runs batted in as the Trinity Episcopal Lady Saints defeated the Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs 18-5 in five innings Monday afternoon in an MAIS District 7-A game.

Winning pitcher Kailey Hutchins went all five innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits, struck out nine batters and walked just one batter. She also contributed at the plate by going 3-for-3.

Even though Trinity won the game by 13 runs, there was one thing that Lady Saints head coach Miranda Smith was not pleased with, and that was the defense committing six errors.

“Six errors is still too many. The defense did not play as well as I would like for it to,” Smith said.

As for Kailey’s performance on the mound, Smith said, “She’s striking out more batters and has cut down on the walks. She’s pitching at the top of her game now.”

Trinity scored 10 runs off Tensas Academy pitcher Bailey Keyes in the top of the first inning. Beard had the big hit of the frame with a bases-clearing triple and Kayla Gilmore had a two-run double.

Keyes also went the distance and gave up 18 runs on 16 hits, walked five batters and struck out three batters.

Tensas Academy scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, but Trinity got that run back in the top of the third courtesy of an RBI double by Beard. The Lady Saints added three runs in the top of the fourth to go up 14-1 before the Lady Chiefs scored one run in the bottom of the fourth.

Beard and Hannah Fitt accounted for three of the Lady Saints’ four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Beard had an RBI double and Fitt belted a two-round double, giving them an 18-2 advantage. The Lady Chiefs scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, with two of them on a Hannah James double.

Sloane Young went 3-for-4, Michaela Hutchins was 2-for-4 with a double, and Fitt was 2-for-4 for the Lady Saints.

“We’re putting the ball in play and cutting down on the strikeouts. We’re being more patient at the plate,” Smith said. “We’ve gotten out of our funk. They want to win. Overall, I’m very proud of our effort.”

And Trinity Episcopal (10-11, 4-2) will need to play with that kind of effort when it plays at top-ranked Franklin Academy in a key district matchup at 6:15 today.