By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Not since the school's initial season has the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers softball team finished above .500.
That is until this year's squad clinched a winning campaign Tuesday with an 18-1, three-inning triumph at Monroe County.
T.R. Miller (11-6) had a consistent attack, as it tallied six runs in each of the three innings.
Erin Byrne had a key double to highlight the first inning rally, while Haley Rilling and Lacey Lucas notched singles.
In the second inning, singles by Leigh Cooper and Jamie Peacock preceded a two-run triple by Rebekah Neal. Leslie Nalty and Lucas both added RBI singles.
T.R. Miller took advantage of three Monroe County errors to spark its third inning outburst. Nalty and Taelor Robinson both added to that rally with singles.
Neal picked up the win, as she struck out four and allowed one hit in two innings of work.
Neal, T.R. Miller's winning pitcher, allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning. That would be the only hit both she and Cooper allowed in a combined one-hitter. Neal went two innings and struck out four to get the win. Cooper added a pair of strikeouts in her hitless inning of relief.
While the Lady Tigers carried some hot sticks Tuesday, their offense was held in check Monday in a 6-2 loss at Andalusia.
T.R. Miller was held to just five hits and only three through the first six innings.
Andalusia had just a 2-1 lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when it picked up two big insurance runs. The Lady Bulldogs got two additional runs in the sixth inning to help secure the win.
Jamie Peacock, Terri Lynne Peacock, Leslie Nalty, Rilling and Byrne all had one hit for T.R. Miller.
Ellis suffered the loss on the mound, as she gave up six hits. However, she was hurt by four errors by her defense.
Monday's game
T.R. Miller 000 101 0 – 2 5 4
Andalusia 020 022 X – 6 6 0
Tuesday's game
T.R. Miller 666 – 18 10 1
Monroe County 010 – 1 1 5