Liberty County High School kicked off its softball season with a 10-3 win over Long County High School on Monday in Ludowici.
The Lady Panthers started strong, scoring three runs in the second inning. In the top of the fourth inning, Liberty put up two more runs to take a 5-0 lead.
However, in the bottom of the inning, the Lady Tide loaded the bases with only one out. Lady Panther pitcher Kaleigh Fisher walked Long County’s Emily Hester, sending in Taylor Poole for the score. Harley Dawson followed with a sacrifice fly to make the score to 5-2 after four innings.  
But in the fifth inning, Liberty County scored again for a 6-2 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Tide again loaded the bases with one out. Madalyne Flynn cracked a hard shot to the infield, plating a runner. However, the Lady Tide didn’t score another run in the inning, and Liberty County put up four more runs in the seventh inning to pull away.  
Liberty County head coach Jerome Standard said that he was impressed with his team’s performance so early in the year.
“I’m very proud of the girls. They did a lot of good things today,” he said. “Our defense and our pitching was fantastic. Actually, the pitching on both teams was very good … we executed and played like we were in mid-season form, and I’m really proud of them.”
Long County head coach Brian Thomas said he was proud of his team and impressed with Liberty County’s play.
“We played pretty good against a real good team with two good pitchers,” he said. “That’s the best Liberty team that I’ve seen … but we played the whole game and didn’t give up and I’m really proud of that.”
Though the Lady Tide fell Monday, they had a good weekend, winning two games in the Softball in the Swamp tournament in Nahunta. On Friday, they beat Glynn County, 12-3, and on Saturday, they beat Charlton County, 2-0.  
They also played Bleckley County on Friday, but that game was ruled a scratch due to inclement weather.
As of Tuesday morning, Long County had a 2-1 record, while Liberty County was 1-0. The Lady Tide were scheduled to play St. Vincent’s Academy on Tuesday in Savannah. Results were unavailable at press time.
On Thursday, Long County travels to play Bryan County at 5 p.m. The Lady Panthers play at Bradwell Institute at 6 p.m. Thursday.