NATCHEZ — The Brookhaven High School Lady Panthers needed just three innings to defeat the Natchez High School Lady Bulldogs 19-1 Friday afternoon in an MHSAA Region 6-5A game at the Natchez-Adams Girls Softball Complex.

“We had too many walks. Our starting pitcher, Carleigh Sproulls, was out with the flu. Our second starting pitcher, Jayden Flowers, I have no problems with her. Each year she has gotten stronger and stronger,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Bonita Hamilton said.

Even though Brookhaven scored eight runs in the top of the second inning and nine runs in the top of the third, the Lady Panthers only had five total hits. But as Hamilton put it, it wasn’t the five errors that hurt the Lady Bulldogs as much as the walks did.

Kaysha Register was the winning pitcher for Brookhaven as she allowed just one base hit, a single by Aysia Pollard. The only run for Natchez High occurred in the bottom of the second inning, but that was after it already faced a 10-0 deficit.

Natchez High (1-2, 0-1) doesn’t play again until Tuesday, March 19 at 5 p.m. when it seeks to avenge this loss, albeit this time on the road at Brookhaven High School.

Block 16, Epps 0 (4 innings)

EPPS, La. — Tadrazia Johnson pitched two shutout innings and helped her cause with a home run as the Block High School Lady Bears routed the Epps High School Lady Panthers 16-0 in four innings Friday afternoon for their first win of the season.

Johnson did not allow a hit, struck out three and walked two batters to earn the win. She was also one of five players for Block who had an extra base hit. Shantise Carter blasted a home run and Laterria Lee had a triple. Jasteasia Osteen and Twyla Smith each had a double.

The Lady Bears plated two runs in the top of the first inning before putting the game out of reach with six runs in the top of the second. They added one run in the top of the third and ended the game early by scoring seven runs in the top of the fourth. The Lady Panthers, on the other hand, were held to just one hit.

Block finished with 17 total hits, but had just one multiple hitter — Osteen, who went 2-for-2. Neither team committed a single error in the game.

Block (1-2) will next play at the Delta Charter School Softball Tournament at 3 p.m. today against host Delta Charter.

Albany 13, Vidalia 4

KENTWOOD, La. — Heather Degenhardt went 4-for-5 with a double and a home run as the Albany High School Lady Hornets defeated the Vidalia High School Lady Vikings 13-4 Friday night at the Jewel Sumner Tournament.

Albany scored three runs in the top of the first inning and added four runs in the top of ht second to jump out to a 7-0 lead. The Lady Hornets would take a 10-0 lead before Vidalia finally got on the scoreboard with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Unfortunately, the Lady Vikings could not keep the momentum going while the Lady Hornets got three of those runs back over the final two innings.

Winning pitcher Brittney Turner had a double while Annalea Giamalva was 4-for-5 and Rayanne Ridhel went 3-for-4 with a double. As a team, Albany ended up with 15 hits and took advantage of four Vidalia errors.

Macey Seyfarth went 2-for-3 with a double while Shelbi Cross and Tionna Ellis each had a double for the Lady Vikings.

Vidalia (2-1) will have two games today at the Jewel Sumner Tournament, with both games being played at the Kentwood Recreation Park. The Lady Vikings will take on Pine High School at 11 a.m. and French Settlement High School at 3 p.m.

Delta Charter splits

FERRIDAY — With the threat of inclement weather forecast for Saturday afternoon, Delta Charter School head softball coach Jeannie Beach had to shuffle the schedule for the Delta Charter School Softball Tournament, forcing it to go from a one-day tournament to a two-day event.

Which meant that host Delta Charter ended up playing Franklin Parish High School on Friday afternoon instead of late Saturday morning and then Block High School with an 8:30 a.m. first pitch instead of 3 p.m.

After all of that, the Lady Storm ended up with one win and one loss in its own tournament. They lost to the Franklin Parish Lady Patriots 11-4 and defeated the Block Lady Bears 16-6.

Delta Charter (2-4) will play a make-up game Monday at Avoyelles Public Charter School with the varsity game at 4 p.m. and the junior varsity game to follow.

Vidalia splits two games

at Jewel Sumner Tournament

KENTWOOD, La. — The Vidalia High School Lady Vikings ended up going 1-2 at the Jewel Sumner Tournament after defeating Pine High School 9-5 Saturday morning and then losing to French Settlement High School 10-2 that afternoon at the Kentwood Recreation Park.

In the win over Pine, Sara Cockerham held the Lady Raiders to just three hits and struck out eight, and walked four – all in the same inning. She allowed just one run through five innings before giving up four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning that made it an 8-5 game.

The first three innings didn’t have much scoring at all between the two teams. Vidalia scored one run in the top of the first and that was it until the Lady Vikings put up four runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead 5-0.

After the Lady Raiders got on the scoreboard with one run in the bottom of the fourth, Vidalia plated three runs in the top of the sixth for an 8-1 advantage.

After Pine tried to get back in the game in the bottom of the sixth, Vidalia scored one run in the top of the seventh. Shelbi Cross went 3-for-4 with two doubles and Alyssa Cupstid was 3-for-4 with a double for the Lady Vikings, who had 13 hits.

“We hit the ball pretty well in both games. We competed pretty well in the first game. The team played good defense in the Pine game,” Vidalia head coach Forrest Foster said.

After committing just one error against Pine, it was just the opposite for Vidalia against French Settlement. The Lady Vikings committed eight errors — four of them in the bottom of the first inning alone.

“In the first inning against French Settlement, we made an error on the leadoff hitter, struck out the No. 2 hitter, made an error on the third error, got a force out on the No. 4 hitter, committed an error on the No. 5 hitter, and committed an error on the No. 7 hitter. We should have gotten out of that inning with no runs scored on us,” Foster said. “We were very fortunate to come out of that inning with them scoring just two runs.”

The Lady Lions added one run each in the bottom of the second and third innings before plating two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-0 lead.

That would be plenty of run support for winning pitcher Jackie Crosby, who pitched five shutout innings before the Lady Vikings scored two runs in the top of the sixth.

“We didn’t strike out much. We were hitting little dribblers. The ball game could have easily gone the other way had we not made those errors,” Foster said. “Sara only walked two batters. The errors are what got us.”

Crosby helped her own cause by going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple for French Settlement, which accumulated nine hits.

Cross had another solid game at the plate for the Lady Vikings, going 2-for-3 with a double. Despite being saddled with the loss on the mound, Cockerham hit a home run.

Vidalia (3-2) hosts Caldwell Parish High School Monday at 4 p.m.