Lady Cougars Swing into Action

While he believes his team still has some areas it needs to improve on, Piedmont Academy softball coach Daniel Funt was encouraged following the Lady Cougars’ three tournament games last week.

Hosting the fourth annual Piedmont Classic, the Lady Cougars managed a tie against Loganville Christian Academy (4-4) while falling to Trinity Christian-Sharpsburg (3-0) and The Heritage School (8-6).

In the tie against LCA, which was the final event of the tournament for Piedmont, Hailey Hooper had a double while Ashley Johnston finished 1-for-3. Alexis Dodson was 1-for-3 with two runs and Mattie Johnston was 1-for-2 with a run.

Lucy Tuggle also had a sacrifice bunt while Kenzie Rodgers had a walk and run scored.

Funt said Rodgers, a freshman, went through LCA’s first nine batters in order.

“It was good for her to start a game,” the coach said. “She had some success and then had to adjust after the Loganville Christian batters adjusted to her.”

In the 8-6 setback to The Heritage School, Piedmont had several offensive standouts including Dodson (2-for-3, one run), Neely Bradford (1-for-3, run), Madison Burnham (1-for-3, run), Ashley Johnston (walk), Mattie Johnston (2-for-3, run), Rodgers (double), Tuggle (1-for-3) and Deacon Robinson (1-for-3).“We did a better game offensively but made some mistakes defensively,” Funt said. “Heritage won their region last year and is a good team again. They took advantage of us on the bases.”

Bradford was the starting pitcher with Rodgers working in relief.

In the tournament opener for the Lady Cougars, Bradford pitched the entire game.

“She got better as the game went on,” Funt said of the sophomore. Ashley Johnston, Mattie Johnston and Tuggle led the offense.

“We were limited with our scoring opportunities,” Funt said. “We faced a pretty good pitcher.”

The Lady Cougars earned their first victory of the season Tuesday with an 8-0 road win against Briarwood.

Maddie Morton earned the win after working the first three innings and recording two strikeouts. Bradford pitched the final three innings and had seven strikeouts.

Cassidy Cook was 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs. Cook also had a stolen base. Ashley Johnston was 2-for-4 with a single and a double, one RBI and one run.

Ava Anglin finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI and run. Anglin also had a stolen base.

Madison Johnson was 1-for-3 with a single and a walk and Bradford added a 2-for-4 performance with a single and a double, one RBI and one run scored.

Madison Burnham and Haley Ann Frank both walks and Dodson had a stolen base and two runs scored.

“We played a solid game,” Funt said. “We played them in the preseason and lost 9-7 to it was good to turn that around.”

Up next for the Lady Cougars will be a trip to Thomas Jefferson Academy on Saturday for two contests.