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Lady Tigers home opener rained out
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Lady Tiger shortstop Madison Winn appears to tag out a Lady Rebel at second, but the officials called the runner safe just minutes before lightning struck Thursday. Then rain canceled the game. The game will play out today at 5 p.m. - photo by Patty Leon

Bradwell Institute’s Region 3-AAAAA opener was in the second inning Thursday in Hinesville when lightning delayed the game. It was soon called because of torrential rain. The game was rescheduled for today at 5 p.m.

It was the second home game rained out by Mother Nature.

The Lady Tigers are currently 1-6.
“It has been a rough start, and I was excited during the summer because we had so many girls here for conditioning,” coach Sharyl Eastlake said.

“But we were missing a few seniors and upperclassmen during conditioning, and that really hurt us.”
Eastlake said the younger players follow the examples of the upperclassmen, and a better turnout from them could have pushed the younger players to strive for more.

“We have a lot of freshman on our team,” she explained. “Besides our seniors, we have two juniors and then the rest are freshman.”
Bradwell went 0-5 at the Tattnall Tournament held last weekend, but Eastlake said it was the eye-opener her players needed to see what they need to work on.

“At the Tattnall Tournament, we did see the best of the best,” she said. “They were all powerhouse teams.”
The Lady Tigers realized that they needed to get back to the basics of hitting, the coach said.

“We had lots of defensive errors, but those came from the frustration of being pounded at the bats,” she said. “We do have a good defensive game; our problems lie in the hitting.”

Eastlake said Madison Winn has put up some hits, along with Briana Tootle. Tootle and Winn lead the team with hits to date.
Tootle has six hits in 13 plate appearances and leads with three RBIs for the Lady Tigers. Winn has four hits in 13 plate appearances.

Senior Mackenzie Stewart started to pitch Thursday’s game against Effingham before it was called. Eastlake said she is the Tigers’ go-to pitcher, but others are developing as well.

“We also have Winn, and she has been doing a good job,” the coach said. “And we have Josephine Satele, who is a freshman and has been working on the mound. And we have Kaylynn Jewell. She is from a military family that just moved in from Colorado, and she wants to try pitching. She is a sophomore, so she has lots of time to develop.”

Effingham has been a tough region opponent for Bradwell. Eastlake said the Lady Rebels are just one hill the girls need to hurdle.

“We really don’t have any easy teams on our schedule this year,” she said.

Friday afternoon and throughout the weekend, the Lady Tigers played at the Battle of the ’Boro at Mill Creek Regional Park in Statesboro.

Bradwell lost to Southeast Bulloch 12-0 and lost to Wheeler County 13-12 in games held Friday. They earned their first win beating Jenkins County 12-3 Saturday before rain cancelled ther next two games.

The complete tournament report will be in Wednesday’s Coastal Courier.

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