The East Coweta Lady Indians and Northgate Lady Vikings had some definite goals they hoped to complete this week at the Georgia Dugout Club Leadoff Classic.
Very little of it had to do with their teams’ win-loss records. Both squads were just hoping to give their players plenty of innings and maybe win some games along the way.
Mission accomplished.
Co-host East Coweta went 4-1 in tournament play after splitting its last two games on Saturday. Defending Class AAAA champion Northgate (2-2), meanwhile, came back Saturday with a 9-3 decision over Camden County and a 1-0 victory over Houston County after losing the first two games of the tournament on Wednesday.
The Lady Vikings were scheduled to play a third game Saturday against Harlem, but details were not available at press time.
“We are just trying to get our girls in so they can a little experience, before we start hitting region play. We are using this as a warm up,” Northgate coach Lisa Skelton said.
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Senior Andie Martin, who is being recruited to play college softball at Western Kentucky, ripped two home runs in the Lady Vikings first victory off the day.
Pitcher Carleigh Myatt got credit for the win, allowing just three hits.
The Lady Vikings found themselves in a pitchers’ duel between starter McKenzie Peace and Houston’s Emily Hittinger en route to the 1-0 win.
“In time you can hold a 1-0 lead that’s great because all it takes is a little bit of bad luck,” Skelton said.”We are working hard mentally to stay in all the games.”
Northgate scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the first when Brenna Skalski was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored when Jenna Pealor reached on an error.
That was all the offense either team could generate. After Mackenzie McCloud walked and Ebonee Echols singled, the Lady Vikings rally was cut short when Echols was ran into by the second baseman and called out when Skalski reached on a fielder’s choice putting base runners at the corners.
Hittinger then retired the next two batters with strikeouts.
Peace turned in her best pitching performance in the third through the fifth innings, as she faced just nine batters. After walking the leadoff hitter in the third, Northgate turned a double play. Peace also struckout a batter for the third out.
Houston put two base runners aboard in the sixth, but with the game limited to 90 minutes, Northgate preserved the victory when Peace snagged a line drive hit up the middle for the third out.
East Coweta rolled past Houston County in its first of two games on Saturday, as Casey Lambert lifted the Lady Indians to a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer.
Houston came back and tied the game before the Lady Indians added five runs in the fourth. Sarah Colwell and Mekisha Freeman had two RBIs in the five-run explosion and Shemiah Sanchez also drove in a run.
East Coweta lost the second game on Saturday falling 11-2 to Harlem. It was the Lady Indians first defeat of the year, but head coach Franklin Deloach is pleased with the 4-1 record.
“We would have liked to have won this last game, but I am happy with 4-1. As I have said all along, it is not about wins right now,” Deloach said.
East Coweta heads back to Kennesaw State next Monday for games against Cherokee and Creekview. The Lady Indians were expected play those games last week, but were rained out.
Northgate hosts the Lady Indians on Tuesday.
