It was neck-in-neck as the visiting Richmond Hill Wildcats and the Liberty Lady Panthers exchanged leads and a tie in Tuesday’s softball game.
But in the top of the fifth inning, the Wildcats unleashed their fury, scoring 12 earned runs for the 17-5 win in five innings.
The game was tied at two when the Wildcats added two more runs in the top of the second inning. The Lady Panthers took their at bats and were suddenly faced with two outs when Gabriella Anthony was walked to first. Her sister Victoria Anthony was hit by a pitch, bringing Brittany Desbiens up.
Desbiens waited for the right pitch and smacked a low line drive for two RBIs tying the game 4-4. In the third, Lady Panther outfielder Taylor Anderson caught a deep ball for the first out. The next Wildcat batter hit one toward Panther third baseman Tiara Howard who scooped up the ball and made the toss to second for the next out. The final out came from Howard again as she snagged a one hopper and tagged the runner coming to third.
In the bottom of the third, Lady Panther Diamone Johnson smacked a double and scored on a hit from Ashley Desbiens to give Liberty a one run lead.
The Wildcats faced two outs after Johnson caught a deep shot to center and pitcher Victoria Anthony caught a fly ball near the mound. But the Wildcats got a runner on base and a deep shot to right field, scoring a run to tie the game at five.
In the bottom of the fourth, Gabriella Anthony walked and Victoria Anthony bunted the ball. Desbiens singled, but Gabriella Anthony was tagged at third.
A wild pitch allowed Victoria Anthony and Desbiens to advance bases. Johnson was walked and with two outs, the Lady Panthers had the bases loaded and the potential to take the lead. Anderson faced a full count, but watched as the final pitch came and went and the umpire called “strike.”
It was at that instance that the momentum shifted and the Wildcats capitalized. The Richmond Hill team took their at bat at the top of the fifth and scored 12 earned runs for the win.
“Richmond Hill was able to catch up to our pitching,” Lady Panther coach Jerome Standard said. “We played well and Anthony didn’t walk many players. More importantly, we didn’t commit many errors.”
The Liberty girls played in a tournament in Statesboro this weekend and will travel to Brunswick on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game. They are currently 1-8 overall and 0-2 in Region 2A-AAAA.