After losing their first game to T.R. Miller last season, the W.S. Neal Lady Eagle softball team took the next two meetings between the two teams.
In their first meeting of the 2013 season—an area game for both teams—the Lady Eagles kept to their winning ways over the Lady Tigers with a 3-1 win in Brewton.
The win for W.S. Neal improved the Lady Eagles to 7-6 overall this season and to 2-1 in area play while the Lady Tigers fell to 5-4 overall and to 1-1 in area play. The loss for T.R. Miller also ended their four-game winning streak.
W.S. Neal led T.R. Miller 1-0 after the first inning, but neither team scored again until the fourth inning while the Lady Eagles took a 2-0 win. Both runs came on passed balls.
In the seventh, W.S. Neal got an RBI single from Kaeli Brown that scored Kena Ellison to give the Lady Eagles a 3-0 lead. T.R. Miller’s lone run came in the seventh when Audrey Hamric scored on a passed ball. Hamric reached on a triple for the Lady Tigers, but it was not enough as W.S. Neal took the win by two.
W.S. Neal and T.R. Miller both left seven runners on base in the game.
“It is a great win especially after the way we played Tuesday at Bayside Academy,” W.S. Neal head coach Jeff Haney said. “It is great to come out and play pretty well. We still did not play our best ball that we are capable of. We are capable of a lot better. We are going to strive for that and that is what we are going to get into the girl’s heads. We want that perfect game. We made some good plays today. Our defense stepped up a bit, but we still made some mistakes. We still need to work on our bats and get them better. We had more hits than we have been, but (T.R. Miller) is a good team and we can’t take them lightly the next time we see them. I was glad to get that area win and am proud of the girls. It is a big win for our community.”
Kaitlin Hadaway earned the win in the circle for W.S. Neal. She went the complete game and allowed four hits, one unearned run, walked two, hit one and struck out five.
Ellison had two singles, Haleigh Dubose had a triple and Brown had an RBI single.
For T.R. Miller, Moriah Brundidge took the loss. She went the complete game and allowed four hits, three runs, one earned, walked five, hit two and struck out 13.
Hamric led with a triple while Kelsey Thompson had two singles and Leslie Holmes added a single.
“We just had missed opportunities,” T.R. Miller head coach Greg White said. “They took advantage of theirs. We both had the same amounts of opportunities. They got the hits when they needed them and we didn’t. We left several people on base and in scoring position. We just didn’t get the hit when we needed and they did basically. We had a couple of passed balls that gave them two runs and that is the difference in the ballgame basically. Moriah pitched well with 13 strikeouts. They are going to hit the ball and it really was not errors, they just hit the ball and hit the holes. They just got the hits and we didn’t and that is what it boils down too. It was just a good ballgame and give (W.S. Neal) credit for getting the win. We just need some hits next time. We are going to see them a few more times. We hope to be a little better next time, but give them credit, they got the hits and we need to get the hits when we get the chance.”
T.R. Miller’s JV softball team took down W.S. Neal 11-2 in the nightcap. T.R. Miller improved to 7-1. W.S. Neal’s JV record was unknown as of press time. Steely Ruzic earned the win on the mound for T.R. Miller.
No other stats or information from the game was known as of press time.