Bradwell Institute’s softball team had a busy week trying to make up games that were rain delayed from earlier in the season.
The Lady Tigers played Glynn Academy on Tuesday, hosted Ware County on Wednesday and were scheduled to be at Richmond Hill on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, the Lady Tigers trailed, 6-2, in the sixth inning when the Lady Gators started a hitting streak and closed the inning with a 15-2 win.
It was a much different scenario the previous day, when the Lady Tigers went seven innings with the game tied, 0-0, against a strong-hitting Glynn Academy squad. The Lady Terrors managed to score a run in the final inning for the 1-0 victory. Bradwell freshman pitcher MacKenzie Stewart pitched five innings, and senior Sarah Wells pitched the final inning.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better game,” Lady Tiger coach Sharyl Eastlake said. “To be tied at zero for almost an entire game; I think the entire game, we only had three little bobbles with the ball but our problem was we couldn’t hit. Glynn has been doing well. They’ve been blowing teams out of the water, so to have a 1-0 game, I’m pretty happy with that.”
As of Thursday morning, the Lady Tigers were 8-8 overall and 2-4 in Region 3B-AAAAA.
Immediately after Tuesday’s game, the Lady Tigers honored their senior players and presented them with flowers and jars filled with dirt from the softball field.
This year, the Lady Tigers have seven outgoing seniors, their largest class to date.
“Senior day is always an emotional day,” Eastlake said.
Here are the seniors who were honored:
• Kelissa Hargove is a five-year veteran of the Lady Tiger softball program. Hargrove started on the junior-varsity team as an eighth-grader and has earned several accolades. As a freshman she received the most improved award. In her sophomore year she was earned the sluggers award. Last year, she received the coaches award. Hargrove was ranked in the top 50 players in the state for the 2010 and 2011 seasons with batting averages of .521 and .458, respectively. She is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars and plans to attend Valdosta State to study sociology or physical therapy.
• Amber Ray is doing a teaching internship.
• Sarah Wells plans to attend Georgia Southern University. In addition to playing softball, she was on the Lady Tiger soccer team.
• Marissa Polston played softball for four years and plans to attend Valdosta State University to major in biology or chemistry while pursuing her goal of becoming an orthodontist.
• Shaquira Smith wants to study zoology and hopes to continue playing softball at the collegiate level.
• Courtney Felton, who played for BI the past three years, plans to go into nursing and sports medicine.
• Samantha O’Neal is undecided about her future studies, but said it likely will be within the state to stay close to family.
In other local softball news, the Liberty County Lady Panthers hosted South Effingham on Tuesday but lost, 12-0. The Panthers, 4-12 overall and 1-1 in Region 3A-AAAA after the loss, were scheduled to play Thursday at Wayne County.