PCHS clips Brantley in 8 innings, swept by Toombs, wins twinbill with WaCo
A busy, five-game week for Pierce County’s fifthranked Lady Bears ended with a non-region sweep of visiting Washington County to finish with a 32 slate.
The Lady Bears (12-3 overall, 3-2 region) made up one of two region games against Brantley County (6-2, 2-1) lost to rain a week earlier escaping with a 5-4 home win Monday, August 31 in eight innings.
Visiting 10th-ranked Toombs County (9-2, 4-0) captured its sixth straight victory a day later beating PCHS 8-0 in six innings. The Lady Bulldogs completed the region series sweep posting a 10-2 home win Thursday, September 3.
The Lady Bears earned a pair of five-inning wins on Recreation Night Saturday, September 5 against WaCo, winning the opener 10-2 followed by a five-inning, perfect game by Bailey Barboza in an 8-0 decision.
Pierce County traveled Tuesday, September 8 to Lowndes and visits Camden County Thursday, September 10. The Lady Bears wrap up a threegame roadtrip playing Monday, September 14 at Jeff Davis.
Region foe Tattnall County visits Bearville Tuesday, September 15 to face the Lady Bears on Senior Night. PCHS makes the return trip to Reidsville two days later.
No. 5 Lady Bears 5 Brantley Co. 4, 8 Inn.
BEARVILLE — A tworun error with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted PCHS past the Lady Herons.
Brantley County grabbed a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth on a solo homer by Rilee Story (2for-4), her second roundtripper of the game, off Bailey Barboza (7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP).
In the bottom of the frame, Pierce County’s Leeanna Davis drew a one-out walk with Maelee Childers (2-for-4) legging out a sacrifice bunt against Edie Lowther (1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 2 BB), who was working in relief of Mary Hall (6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 BB, 2 HBP).
Barboza kept the inning alive with a two-out walk. Lanie Mai’s (2-for-4) ensuing batted ball was thrown away allowing pinch-runner Kabela Reddick (running for Davis) to score the tying run and Childers to race home with the winner.
The Lady Herons broke up the scoreless game with two runs in the third. Hall (1-for-1) extended the inning with a two-out double and trotted home on Story’s first homer to right off a 1-0 Barboza offering.
Brantley County padded the margin to 3-0 in the top of the fourth on a leadoff homer from Caiden Jones (1-for-4).
PCHS tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning after stranding four runners on base over the first four innings. Barboza reached on a one-out error to set up the rally.
Mai followed the miscue with a double putting runners in scoring position. Kaylee Figueroa (1for-3) lined the ensuing pitch for a two-run double closing the deficit to 3-2. Parker Sinclair (1-for-4) followed a two-out walk to Riley Chambless with a single plating Figueroa with the tying run.
Neither team threatened over the final two innings.
No. 10 Toombs Co. ..8 No. 5 Lady Bears .....0
BEARVILLE — The Lady Bulldogs used a tworun second inning to take the lead for good to back the four-hit shutout of Taylor Bland.
Toombs County collected 11 hits against Sofia White (3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 K, 2 BB) and Barboza (3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 0 BB).
The Lady Bulldogs followed a 1-2-3 first inning by having five consecutive batters reach to start the second frame. A walk, error and fielder’s choice on a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases. A run-scoring single and a fielder’s choice groundout produced a 2-0 lead for the visitors.
Toombs County pushed the lead to 6-0 with a four-run fourth. The first five batters reached to ignite the uprising.
The visitors got a runscoring single three batters in, plated the second run on a fielding error and scored a third on a base hit. A one-out fielder’s choice groundout finished the scoring.
The Lady Bulldogs added their last two runs in the sixth inning on a two-out, two-run single for an 8-0 advantage.
PCHS left Childers (1for-3) on in the first inning after her one-out single. Davis (1-for-1) and Shelby Braddy (1-for-2) had back-to-back, twoout singles in the second.
Davis was hit by a pitch to start the fifth ending a stretch of seven straight Lady Bears retired by Bland. Figueroa (1-for-3) doubled with one out in the sixth. Sinclair reached two pitches later on a two-base error putting runners at second and third ahead of the final two outs.
No. 10 Toombs Co..10 No. 5 Lady Bears ....2
LYONS — Toombs County raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings and put the game away with a five-run third to complete the sweep.
The Lady Bulldogs scored a run in the first off Barboza (1.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 K, 0 BB) getting a two-out, run-scoring single after an error extending the inning.
They plated four runs in the second for a 5-0 advantage. Toombs County scored on a one-out, tworun double and a two-out, two-run double.
PCHS cut the deficit to 5-1 with a run in the top of the third. Mai (2-for-3) reached on a one-out, infield hit and stole second ahead of Chambless (1for-2) getting hit two pitches later.
After Figueroa (1-for-3) reached on an error loading the bases, a fielder’s choice grounder by Davis drove home Mai.
Toombs County put the game away with in the third extending the margin to 10-1. A one-out, run-scoring single knocked in the first run.
After a two-out error kept the inning alive and loaded the bases, cleanup hitter Lindy Morris (2for-3, six RBIs) belted an 0-1 offering from White (2.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 BB) for a grandslam homer.
Pierce County scored once in the fifth for the final margin. Mai had a one-out triple and scored when Chambless lined a single on the ensuing pitch.
Game 1 No. 5 Lady Bears....10 Washington Co........2
BEARVILLE — PCHS scored the final nine runs over its last two at-bats, overcoming a 2-1 deficit to rally past the Lady Golden Hawks in the opener.
The visitors struck quickly, taking advantage of a leadoff, two-base error, a passed ball and a single for the 1-0 lead against Barboza (5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 12 K, 0 BB).
The Lady Bears evened the score in the bottom of the inning on Figueroa’s (2-for-3) two-out, solo home run.
WaCo plated its final run of the day in the top of the third on a two-out triple and a run-scoring single for a 2-1 lead.
PCHS took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally after nine straight batters had been retired.
Cadence Coldren (1for-3) kept the inning alive with a two-out single. Barboza (1-for-2) followed with a single before an error on a ball hit by Braddy loaded the bases and extended the inning.
Mai’s (1-for-3) ensuing first-pitch double cleared the bases for a 4-2 advantage. Chambless (1-for-3) followed with a run-scoring single with Figueroa capping the uprising with a run-scoring double for a 6-2 lead.
The Lady Bears ended the game with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Childers (1-for-2) opened with a double, stole third and raced home on a single by Davis (1-for-2).
After a one-out walk to Barboza, pinch-runner Lily Gray Wright and Barboza executed a double steal. Two pitches later, Wright scored on a passed ball with Barboza advancing to third ahead of a walk to Braddy. A second passed ball scored Barboza ending the game on the “eight-run mercy rule.”
Game 2 No. 5 Lady Bears .....8 Washington Co. ......0
BEARVILLE — The Lady Bears scored the only run Barboza would need in the first inning and put the game out of reach with a six-run uprising en route to finishing the sweep.
Barboza retired all 15
batters she faced, finishing with three strikeouts. She closed out Game 1 retiring the last seven batters running her streak to 22 straight retired covering 7.1 innings of work.
Pierce County’s opening run was set by Mai’s (2-for-3) leadoff bunt single. She stole second and third ahead of a one-out walk to Figueroa. Davis (1-for-3) followed with a run-scoring groundout for the 1-0 lead.
The Lady Bears blew the game open in the bottom of the third when the first seven batters reached and six scored. Braddy drew a four-pitch walk, Mai singled and Chambless reached on an error to load the bases.
Figueroa followed with a four-pitch walk forcing Braddy home. Davis lined a run-scoring single on the next pitch upping the lead to 3-0.
Pinch-hitter Caren Drew (1-for-1) blooped a two-run single to increase the lead to 5-0. Sinclair’s ensuing grounder to third was thrown away at the plate allowing both Davis and Childers (running for Drew) to score for the seven-run advantage.
PCHS pushed across a two-out run in the bottom of the fourth for an 8-0 lead. Mai reached on a two-base error to start the frame, advanced to third on a Chambless groundout, and scored on a twoout passed ball for the final margin.
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