DECATUR, Ala. - A fast first inning and heads up defensive plays led the No. 4 seed Lady Eagles to a 5-2 victory over the No. 5 seed Brewton-Parker Thursday afternoon at the Wilson Morgan Softball Complex in the first game of the SSAC Softball Championship, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings.
After a three-up, three-down top of the first inning defensively,
Shelbie Burbage's lead off single set the tone for the inning offensively. Burbage stole base No. 98 of her career to get to second before
Caity Jo Lee's sacrifice bunt took the centerfielder to third.
Tara Ammons delivered a double to score the first run of the game and was followed by a
Gracie Pittman single to put runners on the corners.
Erika Mitchell's grounder did the job, driving in Ammons before back-to-back singles from
Colby Adams and
Madison McKee plated Pittman to go up 3-0.
Abbey Flowers answered one back for the Barons with a solo homer in the second, but Ammons replied right back with her second RBI of the day to cash in a
Kaileigh Harrison's leadoff single to take a 4-1 lead.
Some trouble arose in the fifth as the Barons put runners on second and third with nobody out. A groundout drove in a run and put a runner on third. A walk and a stolen base set up a similar situation in a two-run game, but the next batted ball played very differently. Lexi Bradshaw hit up the middle,
Meagan Schwieterman checked the runner at third, threw to first but was too late to get the leadoff batter. Ammons noticed Cailyn Snellgrove had drifted a bit too far from third and threw over to McKee to pick her off the basepaths. Schwieterman got a ground ball to end the inning with two in scoring position moments later, keeping the game tied.
Burbage made Faulkner history en route to scoring the insurance run, stealing second and third after a single to the circle to hit the century mark for career stolen bases before scoring on a Lee batted ball.
Schwieterman (12-7) allowed just three hits while striking out four in the win.
Faulkner takes on the top-seed and No. 1 ranked team in the country at noon Friday and will play again later in the day depending on the result.
