Lady Cougars Are Ready
It’s still very early in the 2007 season, but the Piedmont Academy fast-pitch softball team has already enjoyed on-the-field success.
The Lady Cougars won both of their games at the Bill Moore Invitational, hosted by Gatewood in Eatonton last Saturday. Piedmont defeated Thomas Jefferson 8-0 in its first contest of the day before rallying to record a 6-5 win in nine innings against host Gatewood.
Coach Danny Camp’s team had to battle extreme heat, especially during the second game Saturday, but managed to emerge as the tournament winner.
“The girls have been responding well to the heat,” Camp said. “I believe our workouts and conditioning during the summer have helped. It was a scorcher Saturday but I thought our players did a great job especially in the second game, which lasted nine innings. It was a situation of which team was going to be able to outlast the other.”
Carrie Tucker started the 2007 season like she has her entire fast-pitch career for the Lady Cougars. Tucker earned both wins Saturday and recorded seven strikeouts while allowing just one earned run against Gatewood.
Piedmont took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Danielle Morgan, which scored Jennifer Mobley.
Gatewood tied the game in the third and the score would remain 1-1 until the Lady Gators pushed two across in the top of the fifth.
The Lady Cougars would tie the score in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Mobley and on two Gatewood errors.
The teams went to the eighth inning using the International Tiebreaker system where a runner begins the inning on second base. Gatewood scored two runs in the top of the eighth but Piedmont would answer in the bottom half of the inning. A double by Morgan helped even the score.
After holding Gatewood in the top of the ninth, Piedmont was able to get the winning run home.
Kirstie Lewis finished the game 2-for-4 while Morgan and Mobley were both 2-for-5.
In the first game Saturday, the Lady Cougars used a strong pitching performance by Tucker for an 8-0 win against Thomas Jefferson. The standout pitcher allowed just one hit in the game.
Offensively, Mobley was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases while Emily Beckham was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. Tucker and Small were both 1-for-3 with an RBI.
“We are off to a good start,” Camp said. “We hope to carry the momentum over into the Windsor tournament.”
The Piedmont fast-pitch team will compete in a tournament hosted by Windsor in Macon today, Friday and Saturday. The Lady Cougars will play Nathanael Greene today at 6 p.m. in an opening-round contest.