Cathedral tops Franklin County 7-6

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 11, 2011

NATCHEZ — The Cathedral softball team showed some resiliency, and got a little help, Thursday night in a 7-6, comeback victory against Franklin County High School.

FCHS pitcher Rachel Dier, had scattered six hits and only given up one run to the Green Wave going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but in the fifth the FCHS defense fell apart.

Cathedral scored six runs on just one hit but got help from two walks and six FCHS errors to take a 7-4 lead in the fifth. FCHS would end the game with eight errors.

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“They made a couple errors and we capitalized,” Cathedral coach Gary Blackwell said.

“One thing we practice a lot is base running, and we were able to put a lot of pressure on them. This team doesn’t have any quit in them, they are a special team and I knew once they came around (they would be fine).”

FCHS was able to come back and make the final inning interesting against Cathedral pitcher Mollie Devening.

The Lady Bulldogs were able to bring two runs across in the seventh inning, to make it a one-run game, and had the tying run on second. But, Devening was able to strike out Si’edriq Middleton to end the game. Devening struck out the side in the seventh, and finished the game with seven strikeouts.

FCHS was led offensively by Keke Collins, who went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored. Mildred Starks also chipped in with two hits and three RBIs. But, it was the defense, not the offense that prevented the victory for the Lady Bulldogs.

“The defense was terrible, defense is what lost the game,” FCHS coach Dana Smith said. “But they fought hard and played hard.”

Junior captain Beth Fortenbery, who had a double and two runs for the Green Wave, was also pleased with her team’s resiliency, she said.

“We started kind of slow, but we came back and got some runs,” Fortenbery said.

“It’s pretty exciting (to get this win), we have never beat (FCHS) before in fast pitch.”

The loss drops FCHS to 0-3-1 on the season. Cathedral improves to 4-1.

“This was a big test for us,” Blackwell said. “We knew Franklin County would be tough. (The win is good) because it let’s us know where we are.”