Lady Cougars Post Two Wins

Piedmont Academy’s varsity softball team held on for a 2-1 win against visiting Windsor Monday afternoon.

Neely Bradford earned the win going all seven innings while striking out five and allowing only two hits. The freshman pitcher allowed one earned run, which came in the top of the fourth.

Piedmont pushed runs across in the bottom of the first and fifth innings. Madison Johnson was 1-for-2 with a walk and Cassidy Cook had a RBI. Haley Tyler was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Taylor Swart finished 1-for-3.

“This was a good win for our team,” coach Daniel Funt said. “Hopefully, it will give us the confidence to know we can beat anyone. Also, it was good to win a low scoring game. Offensively, we didn’t waste any at bats, which is good. We put the softball in play.”

As in past seasons, the Windsor Lady Knights are a solid program, Funt said. “It was a good game for us, pretty solid all the way around,” the Piedmont coach said.

Piedmont also defeated Gatewood 4-1 on the road last Thursday after scoring all four runs in the top of the seventh inning.

Gatewood took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and made that slim advantage hold up until the Lady Cougars finally broke through and got on the scoreboard in the seventh inning.

Maddie Morton earned the win going all seven inning allowing just one hit and one run, which was unearned. Amelia Dodson was 2-for-3 at the plate with a run while Morton and Hailey Hooper were both 1-for-3. Tyler finished 1-for-4 with a run and RBI.

“It was a good team win,” Funt said. “I am proud of the girls for supporting each other and coming back to win the game despite being down going into the last inning. Teams have to be able to come from behind to win games.”

Overall, the defensive effort was strong as was the pitching, the coach said.

“I was proud of those elements keeping us in the game,” Funt said. “We are improving, we just have to continue to do so.”

The varsity squad will travel to Oak Mountain Saturday for a 4 p.m. doubleheader prior to hosting Trinity-Sharpsburg Tuesday at 6 p.m.