BAKER, La. — Wilkinson County Christian Academy’s fast-pitch softball team took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the third inning in its game Thursday afternoon at Central Private School.

But three walks by pitcher Hannah Lanehart – her only ones of the game – and a costly error in the outfield helped the Lady Rebels answer with a five-run rally as they held on for an 8-6 victory.

“Our pitcher struggled in the third inning. We had a big error. The ball went through the left fielder’s legs and it went all the way to the fence,” WCCA head coach Brandi McDaniel said.

Central Private had the bases loaded, and the error cleared the bases as those three runners as well as the batter scored. The Lady Rebels scored another run in the bottom of the third to take an 8-4 lead.

WCCA scored two runs in the top of the fifth to close the gap to two runs, but the Lady Rams could not get any closer than that. And that was mainly because of Central Private sophomore pitcher Alex Stuckey, who ended up with eight strikeouts and allowed just three hits while issuing three walks in the five-inning contest.

McDaniel said that good base-running and capitalizing on some miscues by the Lady Rebels was the reason for the Lady Rams scoring the majority of their six runs.

“We played small ball. Stole a lot of bases. They had a few errors that helped us score. We capitalized on the walks. Two of the runs scored (on walks),” McDaniel said.

Despite the one big inning by Central Private, McDaniel noted that WCCA played better as a team than it has recently.

“Lanehart pitched very well. The defense played okay. We’ve just got to play well in all three phases,” she said.

Lanehart struck out four batters while the defense behind her committed four errors.

WCCA (1-7) next plays at Silliman on Monday, Aug. 22 with the junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity game at 6:45 p.m.

Brookhaven 10, Franklin County 2

MEADVILLE — Lay Lay Griffin hit a solo home run for Franklin County in the bottom of the first inning to give the Lady Bulldogs the early lead. After that, it was all Brookhaven.

The Lady Panthers took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the top of the second inning and a six-run sixth inning put the game away as they easily defeated the Lady Bulldogs Thursday night.

After Griffin’s home run, Franklin County didn’t score again until the bottom of the sixth inning. And by that time, the Lady Bulldogs went into the home half of that inning trailing 10-1.

The two teams combined for 26 hits – 16 by Brookhaven and 10 by Franklin County. But the Lady Panthers also took advantage of eight errors committed by a young Lady Bulldogs team.

Emily Freeman led Brookhaven at the plate by going 4-for-4 with a double. Courtney Hauer went 3-for-3 with a double and Griffin was 2-for-3 for Franklin County (2-2).

Franklin County plays at Lawrence County next Monday with the JV game at 5 p.m. and the varsity game at 6 p.m.