MEADVILLE — The Franklin County Lady Bulldogs won two of their three games Saturday afternoon at the Franklin County Softball Tournament held at Shortstop Field.

Franklin County got a measure of revenge in its first game when it defeated Lawrence County 4-3. In its second game, Franklin County was shut out by McComb 5-0. And in the finale, the Lady Bulldogs defeated Vicksburg 8-1.

Rachel Dier pitched all three five-inning games for the Lady Bulldogs. She was able to overcome five walks to pick up the win against Lawrence County by holding the Lady Cougars to just four hits. Franklin County led 4-0 after three innings of play and held on for the victory.

KeKe Collins went 2-for-3 while Abbie Graves and Nicole White each went 2-for-2

“The first game we played really well. I was proud of them,” Franklin County head coach Dana Smith said. “Rachel really made a difference on the mound.”

But before their second game of the day against McComb, players on the Lady Bulldogs team found out that a classmate had passed away and were not able to focus on playing a softball game.

“The second game, the girls’ heads were not about playing ball,” Smith said.

Franklin County had just five hits, two of them by Collins, and committed five errors while Dier allowed five runs on 10 hits. The Lady Tigers were led by Megan Coney, who was 3-for-3.

In the final game of the tournament, Franklin County was refocused and reenergized. And there was nothing the Vicksburg Missy Gators could do about it. Dier allowed just one run on eight hits, struck out two and walked none.

The Lady Bulldogs, the visiting team for the second straight game, scored one run in the top of the first inning, three in the top of the second and four in the top of the fourth. Vicksburg scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth.

Allison Hauer went 2-for-2 with a triple while Collins was 3-for-4 with a double and Courtney Hauer was 2-for-3 with a double.

“The third game, they squared back and were ready to play ball. Rachel played well today. It was definitely one of her better outings,” Smith said. “Overall, it was a great day for softball. Great crowds and no problems. Just a fan-based crowd.”

Franklin County (7-5-2) hosts Tylertown Monday at 5 p.m. in the completion of their Division 7-3A game that was stopped because of inclement weather in the bottom of the third inning with one on and one out and the score tied at 5-5.

Cathedral manages a split at Franklin County Tournament

MEADVILLE — The Cathedral Lady Green Wave struggled at times to hit the ball in its two games Saturday at the Franklin County Tournament. Yet it also was able to salvage a split after defeating Vicksburg 2-0 in an afternoon game.

Cathedral played the first game of the tournament Saturday morning against one of the top teams not only in Class 4A, but also in the state in Lawrence County. And the Lady Cougars prevailed with a 5-2 win in a game that went five innings.

Not only did the Lady Green Wave’s bats have trouble putting the ball in play with just three hits, but Mollie Devening was not her best on the mound as she allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out just one batter.

“Against Lawrence County, we just couldn’t get rolling. Couldn’t get our bats going in either game. The first game, we couldn’t get our bats going,” Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said.

In the win over the Vicksburg Missy Gators, Mollie Devening had a much better outing on the mound as she pitched a five-inning shutout, allowed just one hit, struck out seven and walked only one.

Cathedral had nine hits in the game, but were unable to take advantage of a pair of golden scoring opportunities that could have put the game completely out of reach.

Cathedral scored one run in the bottom of the first inning and one run in the bottom of the third inning. However, the Lady Green Wave had the bases loaded in back-to-back innings and were not able to bring in any runs.

Milligan as well as Kimble Devening went 2-for-3 for the Lady Green Wave.

Cathedral (13-6) hosts Salem for a Division 8-1A game Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Monterey takes two at LaSalle Tournament

OLLA, La. — The Monterey Lady Wolves got strong pitching from Paige Bryan in a 5-2 win over Bastrop and then in a 6-3 come-from-behind win over host LaSalle Saturday at the LaSalle Tournament.

“Paige is an excellent pitcher. We were concerned because Bastrop had just beat Simpson 9-0 (earlier in the morning.) But we score one run in the first and three in the second. That just helped out our confidence,” Monterey head coach Hazel Brallier said. “We played a pretty clean game with (just) one error. That was a boost for us.”

What was also a boost was the performance Taylor Morace had at the plate. She went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in.

Ellen Bairnsfather, who pitched all 12 innings for Monterey in a tough loss to Simpson on Friday night, got the start for the Lady Wolves against the LaSalle Lady Tigers. After pitching back-to-back shutout innings to start the game, Bairnsfather had trouble finding the strike zone in the bottom of the third inning and was unable to protect a 2-0 lead as LaSalle put up three runs to take the lead.

“She walked a couple of people. They got a hit and that’s how that happened,” Brallier said. “So we pulled her and went with Paige.”

Bryan allowed just two hits, struck out one and walked two in four innings to pick up her second win of the day. But that wouldn’t have happened if not for Monterey’s late-game rally. Bairnsfather struck out four and walked two in three innings.

The Lady Wolves tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning and completed their rally with three runs in the top of the seventh.

Bryan went 2-for-2 with a double and one RBI while both Bairnsfather and Karlee Woodruff went 2-for-4.

“Even though we lost (Friday) night, the whole weekend we played well. Even though the games stayed close, the team did a good job of staying focused,” Brallier said.

Monterey (17-5) returns to District 6-B action on Tuesday when it hosts Rapides at 4 p.m.