Tough outing for Green Wave softball
Published 1:21 am Sunday, August 5, 2007
NATCHEZ — Megan Whiting brought in two runs with a triple to centerfield and then scored on an errant throw in the top of the fifth inning, which turned out to be big for the Richland Lady Rangers.
Those three runs gave Richland a 10-5 lead, which turned out to be just enough of a lead as it held off Cathedral’s rally in the bottom of the sixth inning and took a 10-9 win Saturday morning in the first game of the inaugural Cathedral Classic Tournament at the Natchez-Adams Girls Softball Complex.
“We made a few errors that we can work on,” Cathedral head coach Pam Clayton said. “Other than that, we hit the ball well. They’ve been executing on what they’ve been working on.”
The top of the third inning was the turning point in the game as Lady Green Wave second baseman Zoie Arnold made three errors while pitcher Rachel Smilo walked three and gave up three hits as the Lady Rangers scored seven runs to take a 7-4 lead.
Emily Lott, who went 3-for-4, had an RBI single and Jennifer Harrison, who was 2-for-3, singled in two runs.
“We hit the ball a little bit better than I expected,” Richland head coach Trey Lindsey said. “We had the one big inning. I just wish we would’ve spread it out some.”
Cathedral had the first two runners reach base in three of the first four innings, but base-running miscues and batters watching good pitches go by for called strikes and then swinging at and, occasionally hitting, pitches that were several inches over the strike zone kept the Lady Green Wave from scoring more runs.
Anna Huffines singled to score Elizabeth Blackwell with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Epiphany Jackson struck out looking for the second out and, after Betsy Daggett walked to load the bases, Mae Durkin hit a foul ball for strike three to end the inning.
The Lady Green Wave scored three runs on three hits in the second, which started when Smilo reached on an error. She later scored on a single by Mellisa Cavin. Ana Perry walked and scored on a single by Arnold. Elizabeth Blackwell