Lady Cougars Face Quality Foes

When the dust settled the Piedmont Academy fast-pitch softball team was 1-3 following its season opening tournament in Macon.

However, coach Danny Camp said he believes the experience his players received from competing against some of the best competition the state will pay dividends in the long run.

“We weren’t playing for a state championship,” Camp said. “We were playing to get better. I do feel some of the teams we faced may eventually play for a state championship this season.”

The Lady Cougars opened play with a 14-0 victory against Central Fellowship. Kacy Swart was 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Brittany Germany was 2-for-2 and drove in two runs as did Savannah Holifield. Hailey Burnham also finished 2-for-2 at the plate.
Carla Martin, Swart and Heather Tyler each shared the pitching duties in the season opener.

Piedmont then battled powerhouse Stratford to a 2-1 contest later Friday evening. The Lady Cougars scored in the top of the second on an RBI single from Cheyenne Galloway.

Stratford scored two in the bottom half of the inning as neither team would push any additional runs across the rest of the way.
“It was about as good of a game as you will see,” Camp said.
Martin went the distance against Stratford.

Camp decided his team would compete in the “Gold” bracket the following day in order to see additional top flight competition.
Piedmont fell 6-0 to Tattnall Square and 7-3 to Stratford.
In the game against Tattnall, Camp said his team had a few chances to push runs across but couldn’t manufacture a big play at the plate.

“We will benefit greatly from being on the field with programs like Tattnall Square and Stratford,” Camp said. “We need to learn how to hit against that level of pitching. We pitched well and played great defense but we have to get better at the plate.”

The tournament gave the Lady Cougars a chance to see what areas they need work on in practice, Camp said.

Piedmont was scheduled to play Windsor Wednesday and will travel to Nathanael Greene next Tuesday, Aug. 16, for a 4 p.m. contest.