W.S. Neal Blue Eagles softball team and also area champs for the second year in a row was on the road Friday as they traveled to Gulf Shores for the first round of the playoffs, where they took on Montgomery Catholic.

The Eagles fought a good game, where they came out strong starting off in the first inning. However, it was Montgomery Catholic who got the first run in the first inning making it a 1-0 run.

The Eagles battled on the defensive end catching a base-hit hit to give them their second out, then Madison Hawthorne caught the third base-hit to put the Eagles at the bat. Madison White was at bat first for the Eagles, following her was Jailyn Bondurant and Makayla Crook. White and Bondurant got the base-hits but they resulted in a out for the Eagles. Going into the second inning the Eagles went back on defense catching a early base-hit giving Montgomery Catholic a out early in the second. The Eagles got the third out thanks to some hard work from third base. When they returned to bat Natalie Wyatt was at bat who got a base-hit but Montgomery Catholic caught it in the outfield.

The Eagles was getting hits but they were just resulting in catches for the Knights. Neal continued their defensive play holding the Knights 1-0 going into the third. In the third inning the Knights went on a 3-0 pushing the lead to 6-0. Neal silenced the crowd with a catch in the outfield to end the run. Going into the fourth the score was 10-0 in favor of the Knights.

The Eagles kept battling as they were back on the bats with Bondurant got a base-hit pushing Brianna Pugh to second while she made it to first base. The Eagles got the bases loaded in the fourth and was able to get a run making it a 10-1 lead in the fourth. The Eagles continued to load the bases again getting another base-hit from Jena Wyatt allowing runners to advance on second and third base, while bringing home another runner to make the lead 10-2.

The Eagles continued their game plan as they loaded the bases for the third time in the fourth with Kendall Carpenter at bat. The fifth and sixth inning resulted in tight defense from both teams until Montgomery Catholic got another run in the fifth making it a 11-2 run. The game ended in the seventh inning with Montgomery Catholic defeating the Eagles 11-2.

“I liked how we came out strong but we just didn’t hit the ball well, we need to hit better,” head coach Emily Vickrey said.