A big third-inning push by Effingham County helped give them an 8-0 win over Bradwell Institute on Thursday in Region 3-AAAAA softball action at BI.
The Lady Tigers fell to 3-15 overall and 0-5 in the region.
“I know we lost, but I am not real upset,” Lady Tiger softball coach Sharyl Eastlake said. “I have a feeling that they (the Rebels) thought they were going to take us in three innings ... they are an excellent team … their defense and hitting are awesome. But we played six innings.”
Effingham (16-2, 5-0) scored a run in the first inning and had a chance to extend the lead by loading the bases that inning, but Lady Tiger Jakaria Fleming made the final out with a catch in left field.
In the fourth inning, the Rebels had three hits that drove in four runs total.
Effingham scored again in the fifth. In the sixth inning, errors gave the Rebels their final two runs in the game.
Kayleen Pixley and Tamia Johnson both went 1 for 2 for the Lady Tigers. Mackenzie Stewart pitched five innings, walking three, striking out one and giving up nine hits. Pixley pitched one inning, walking two batters.
“Our defense is really improving. What we lacked in was hitting, and we’ve been practicing on that all week,” Eastlake said. “We hit from 3:45 to 5:30 yesterday. We hit the whole entire time. But our timing is off, and their defense is good. We had a couple hits, but right to their gloves.”
The Lady Tigers play at Richmond Hill at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a region contest. Bradwell has a hectic schedule next week, with a game at St. Vincent’s on Wednesday and hosting South Effingham on Thursday.
“We have six games, three next week and three the following week. We just need to continue to practice. Last year, our struggle was endurance. We have the endurance now. We are just not getting the timely hits,” Eastlake said. “When we get two girls on base, we need that hit to score them.”