NATCHEZ — With the help of two key errors in the top of the first inning, the WCCA Lady Rams jumped out to a 5-0 lead and went on to defeat the ACCS Lady Rebels 12-2 Monday afternoon at the ACCS softball field.

The second of three errors committed by ACCS in the top of the first allowed Hannah Ashley to score to make it a 2-0 game. The third error allowed another run to score before Olivia Whitehead’s two-run single gave the Lady Rams a 5-0 lead.

“It’s obvious that they out scored us and they outplayed us,” ACCS head coach Forrest Foster said. “We made some errors in the first inning that we don’t normally make. That allowed the score to be 5-0 instead of 2-0.”

WCCA head coach Ray Olive agreed with Foster’s assessment.

“I thought the first inning was key,” he said. “Momentum is crucial in fast pitch.”

As to Whitehead’s key hit of the inning, Olive said, “I told her to widen her strike zone. That was our first hit of the inning other than the errors.”

Lady Rebels pitcher Sara Beth Fuller was impressive on the mound and did her best to keep the home team in the game. She only allowed four hits and struck out four in three innings.

“Sara Beth did a better job pitching today,” Foster said. “She’s getting more consistent.”

Olive said that Fuller did a good job mixing her pitches and keeping his batters off-balanced throughout the three-inning contest.

“AC did a lot better job pitching,” Olive said. “It gave us an opportunity to try to put the ball in play in different situations.”

WCCA (7-10) tacked on five runs in the top of the second inning on a walk, two hit batsmen, an error and an RBI single by Heather Stutzman.

ACCS scored two runs in the bottom of the second off reliever Abby McDuff. Katie Hester led off with a walk, Chelsea Freeman was hit by a pitch and Lee Ann Gardner reached on an error to load the bases.

Katie Hewitt then walked to score Hester and with two outs, Kaitlan Melton singled to bring in Freeman. However, a groundout to first base ended the rally.

“Our hitting was better today,” Foster said. “We made them play defense.”

The Lady Rams scored two runs in the top of the third on an error and a fielder’s choice by Whitehead to give them a 12-2 lead. The Lady Rebels had runners at the corners with two outs, but McDuff struck out Hewitt to end the game.