The 2022 version of the Long County Lady Blue Tide are a completely different team than in the last few years. They wanted to prove that coming into the season and they have done so in the first seven games.

On Monday, they dominated the Claxton Tigers in a makeup game from last week, rolling to a 14-0 victory.

Senior Jaci Smiley showed just how dominant the game was going to be as she opened the contest with a diving grab in centerfield. Her mound counterpart and fellow senior Rebecca Lust showed her worth in the circle as she fanned the next two Tiger batters to get her team to the plate.

The Lady Tide batted around in the first inning, scoring eight runs in the process.

Kyleigh Sizemore’s single scored Delanie Williams with the first run, and Smiley plated both Taylor Hodges and Sizemore with a single.

Kassie Davis scored on an error, and Ciara O’Brien’s single scored Emma Smith to make it 5-0. A wild pitch made it 6-0, and Hodges capped the inning with a two-run triple.

Claxton got its lone hit off Lust in the top of the second inning.

Simpkins’ single made it 9-0 before Claxton turned Lust’s line drive into a double play.

The Tide added five runs in the third inning, three of them coming off bases-loaded walks or hit batters. 

Tonilyn Pipkin, pinch hitting for Lust, cracked a single into centerfield as two runs came home to make the score 14-0.

Lust recorded her seventh and final strikeout of the game as the Tide moved on to the 14-0, four-inning mercy-rule win over the Tigers.

With the win, the Lady Tide move to 6-1 on the season and travel to play Calvary Day in their second region game of the year Wednesday.

On Thursday, they will travel to play Islands and look to avenge their only loss of the season. The Lady Tide fell to the Sharks 4-3 in an opening weekend invitational tournament.