Cathedral lets one slip away, falls to Parklane Academy, 10-4

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 10, 2016

NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School’s 10-4 loss to Parklane Academy can be traced back to a two-out debacle in the top of the fifth inning.

The Lady Green Wave (2-1) led 4-3 in the top of the fifth, when a booted ball and a walk put runners on for Destini Brown to put Parklane in front with a three-run blast to right-centerfield.

Head coach Gary Blackwell said the momentum shifted after that.

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“They hit the home run and they got to hitting the ball,” Blackwell said. “We didn’t hit toward the end of the game and they had some big hits early on.”

Cathedral’s bats came on strong in the first three innings. Caroline Kaiser roped an RBI single to score leadoff hitter Haley Ellis. Kaiser scored a second run on a sacrifice fly from Baylee Graning to give Cathedral a 2-1 lead.

The bats were silent after and RBI single from Allie Feltus in the fourth inning and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Lauren Dunbar.

Parklane pitcher Hannah Creel shut out the Lady Green Wave over the final four innings.

Blackwell said the momentum swing from Parklane to Cathedral sucked the life out of the host team’s offense.

“A couple errors cost us and gave them the momentum when we had it,” Blackwell said. “That was a good team, though, and we battled hard … we all made a few errors.”

Pitcher Elizabeth Smith started out efficient following her 13-strikeout outing on Monday. Smith surrendered just one earned run through the first four innings.

Blackwell said, with the team short on pitchers early in the season, Smith has had to carry the Lady Green Wave on the mound through the first three games.

“We’re not in really great shape yet,” Blackwell said. “Other teams have been playing tournaments, and we haven’t done that yet,”

Cathedral was within three runs heading into the seventh inning, when Carrington Jefcoat pushed a high flyball over the leftfield fence.

Cathedral’s next game is on the road to face Brookhaven Academy Tuesday.