Brantley County stretched its winning streak to four games overpowering Region 1A foe Fitzgerald 43-1 in a three-game sweep with each game ending via the “mercy rule”.
The sweep by the Lady Herons (5-4 overall, 5-2 region) followed a Tuesday, August 19, 9-7 victory over regionmate Berrien in a series interrupted by inclement weather. The Thursday, August 21 doubleheader in Nashville was cancelled and will be made up at the end of the season.
BCHS opened the series with a 13-0 home victory in four innings Tuesday, August 26. The Lady Herons notched a five-inning 15-1 decision in Game 1 Thursday, August 28. They followed with a 15-0 win in the nightcap in three innings.
The Lady Herons visit Ware County Thursday, September 4. They travel Monday, Septmber 8to Glynn Academy.
Region foe Bacon County comes to tow Tuesday, September 9. The two teams meet Thursday, September 11 for a doubleheader in Alma.
Lady Herons.............................9 Berrien .....................................7
CANEY BAY — The Lady Herons rallied from a 7-3 deficit using a five-run fourth inning to take the lead for good against visiting Berrien.
The Lady Herons scored in their first at bat. Lydia Anderson (2-for-3) drew a leadoff walk, stole second and third, and scored on Rilee Story’s (2-for-4) grounder.
After the Lady Rebels evened the score at 1-apiece against Reagan Mclain (3 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 4 BB) on a one-out grounder, BCHS reclaimed the lead at 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning.
Jayden Lewis drew a one-out walk, moved into scoring position on a ground out and scored on Braylee Grant’s (1-for-3) two-out double.
Berrien struck for four runs in the third inning to claim a 5-2 lead doing all the damage after two outs and one on base. Six consecutive batters reached with three consecutive walks forcing home the tying run. A hit by pitch gave the Lady Rebels the lead. An error and single scored the next two runs.
Story lead off the BCHS third with a single, stole second and moved to third on the throwing error. She scored on a one-out single by Sydnee Davis (2-for-4) closing the deficit to 5-3.
The Lady Rebels scored its final runs of the afternoon with a two-run fourth for a 7-3 lead. Consecutive singles started the inning with a sacrifice bunt moving the runners up. A wild pitch scored the first run with a sacrifice fly plating the second for a four-run margin.
Brantley County responded with a five-run bottom half of the inning to grab an 8-7 advantage. Lewis was hit by the second pitch of the frame with Sydney Page (1-for-2) following with a single.
After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Lewis scored on Anderson’s infield hit pulling the Lady Herons to within 7-4. A run-scoring single by Story was followed by Chelsea Turner’s (1-for-4) go-ahead three-run home.
BCHS added an insurance run in the fifth. Mclain reached on a twobase error leading off the inning. After moving to third on a passed ball, she scored on a Lewis groundout for a 9-7 lead.
Mclain retired six of the final seven batters over the final two innings.
Game 1 Lady Herons ..........13 Fitzgerald ................0
CANEY BAY — Mclain tossed a four-inning perfect game striking out nine of the 12 batters she faced in pitching the Lady Herons past Fitzgerald.
She needed 42 pitches with 37 being strikes. Mc-Clain recorded four called third strikes with five coming via a swing and miss. The Lady Hurricanes put three balls in play with two infield pop outs and a groundout with seven pitches fouled off.
Brantley County scored all the runs it would need with a two-run first on back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Davis (3-for-3) and Page (1-for-1). The Lady Herons pushed the margin to 6-0 with a fourrun second inning.
Lewis had a sacrifice fly plating the first run. BCHS scored twice on a threebase error when Anderson (2-for-3) laid down a bunt for a single and raced around the bases upping the lead to 5-0. A final run scored on an error after Davis singled.
The Lady Herons scored seven two-out runs in the third inning to extend the lead to 13-0. Brantley County sent 12 batters to the plate with nine reaching. Consecutive two-out errors allowed the first three runs to trot home.
Davis laced a two-run triple and scored two pitches later on a wild pitch for a 12-0 lead. Grant (2-for-3) knocked home the final run with a RBI single.
Grant went 2-for-3 while Mclain and Turner each finished 1-for-2.
Game 2 Lady Herons ..........15 Fitzgerald..................1
FITZGERALD — Brantley County used an eightrun first inning putting the game out of reach early in beating the Lady Hurricanes.
Six consecutive batters reached without the benefit of a hit or an error after an out started the game with three scoring. BCHS drew four walks and had two batters hit in building a 3-0 lead. Three singles and a double helped plate the final five runs.
Story (1-for-3) walked with Davis (1-for-3) getting hit one pitch later. Following a double steal, Story scored on a passed ball. Walks to Grant (2-for-3) and Page loaded the bases. Caiden Jones (2-for-2) was hit by a pitch forcing home a run for a 2-0 lead.
After a passed ball scored a run with all runners advancing, Lewis (3for-4) singled home two runs. Kynslea Garrison followed with a two-run double upping the lead to 7-0. Story’s two-out, run-scoring single capped the eight-run uprising.
BCHS stretched the lead to 10-0 with a two-run second. Page reached on a two-base error to start the inning and scored one pitch later on a double by Jones, who stole third and scored on a Mary Hall’s (1for-2) sacrifice fly to center.
The Lady Herons plated a run in the third. Grant singled with one out with Page reaching on an error. Jones followed with a nine-pitch walk loading the bases. Hall’s ensuing sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 11-0.
Brantley County dented the plate four times in the top of the fifth scoring the first run on a single by Grant. Jones followed with an RBI base hit for a 13-0 advantage. A pair of passed balls finished off the scoring.
Fitzgerald scored its only run of the series in the bottom of the fifth scoring on a fielder’s choice grounder against Hall (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 K, 0 BB).
Game 3 Lady Herons ..........15 Fitzgerald ................0
FITZGERALD — A pair of three-run homers and solo blast powered BCHS to the rout of Fitzgerald in the series finale.
Turner (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB) was the beneficiary of the outburst. Jones ( 2-for-3, two homers, career-high seven runs batted in) hit threerun homers in the first and second innings.
Davis (2-for-3) slammed solo homer leading off the third.
The Lady Herons scored five times in the first. Anderson (2-for-3) opened the game reaching on a two-base error. She scored on a one-out double by Davis. A two-out single by Lewis run-scoring single by Lewis (2-for-3) gave Brantley County a 2-0 lead. After an error on a ball hit by Page, Jones launched a first-pitch three-run homer to left extending the margin to 5-0.
BCHS scored eight runs in the second after two outs and one on base increasing the lead to 13-0. Anderson legged out a leadoff infield hit and scored on a two-out single by Turner (1-for-2). A base hit by Lewis was followed by an error on a ball hit by Page scoring a run for a 70 advantage.
Jones hit her second first-pitch, three-run homer swelling the margin to 10-0. An error on a ball hit by Mclain (1-for-3) was followed by a 12-pitch walk to Madison Walker. The final three runs of the inning came when Mclain and Walker’s courtesy runner, Kynil Flowers, raced around the bases scoring on Andersons’ bunt single and three-base error.
Davis led off the third with a solo blast. Jones drove in the final run when her grounder was misplayed allowing Lewis to score from third.
