The Enterprise Lady Yellow Jackets softball team opened up its defense of the District 7-1A title with an 8-4 win over the Cathedral Lady Green Wave Monday afternoon at the Natchez Girls Softball Complex.

Nikki Leggett was the winning pitcher for Enterprise, giving up four runs (three earned) on 14 hits in pitching a complete game.

&uot;Our hitting’s coming around,&uot; said Enterprise coach Steve Sasser. &uot;It’s not where it needs to be. We hit some hard shots today.&uot;

Leggett reached on an error to start the game, and moved to second on an Ashley Palamarez single. Lacey Palamarez flied out to advance the runners, and, with two outs, Nicole Floyd singled to bring in Leggett and Ashley Palamarez to give Enterprise (4-0, 1-0) a 2-0 lead.

Cathedral (3-1, 0-1) got only one hit off Leggett in the first two innings before scoring three runs on five straight singles in the bottom of the third to give the Lady Green Wave a 3-2 lead.

Alex Roberts had an RBI-single and Mary Margaret Alwood had a two-run single in that half-inning.

&uot;They came out a little flat,&uot; said Cathedral coach Lynn Ogden. &uot;I think they’re a better team than they showed today.&uot;

Cathedral’s one-run lead didn’t last long, however, as Enterprise broke the game open with five runs on six hits in the top of the fourth inning.

Lacey Palamarez led off the inning with a triple and scored on an RBI single by Breann Laird. Floyd walked and Megan Criswell singled to load the bases.

Cathedral starting pitcher Amber Green was replaced by Chelsi Smith, who gave up Nicole Beard’s RBI single and Ashley Tate’s two-run double.

Enterprise scored once in the top of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 8-3 and Cathedral scored its last run of the game in the bottom of the sixth on an error.

&uot;I think it came down to the hitting,&uot; Ogden said. &uot;We didn’t hit the ball and they did.&uot;

Cathedral will host Franklin County in a non-district game at 10 a.m. Saturday. Cathedral’s scheduled game at St. Aloysius at 5 p.m. Thursday will not take place because St. Aloysius is not fielding a team this year.