Purvis didn't have many answers for West Lauderdale's Breelyn Cain.
If anything, Cain proved why she deserved to be named Miss Softball as the Lady Tornadoes fell 5-1 to the Lady Knights in Game 1 of the Class 4A Softball State Championship.
"I think we just abandoned our approach to the plate," Purvis coach Lindsay Robertson said. "We had a game plan, and I think we got a little panicked and deviated from that."
Cain only struck out three batters and walked two batters, but she surrendered just three hits, and the lone run was unearned. Notably, 14 of the 18 outs she recorded came from flyouts, while 60 of her 94 pitches were strikes.
"We have to make the adjustment to keep the ball out of the air," Robertson said. "It was one of those games where we did hit it hard, and it went straight to them. We have to command our spots better from the circle. We also have to stay with our approach from the plate. I think we panicked and stopped doing what we were supposed to be doing."
However, Purvis (27-5) opened the game with a 1-0 lead after Lily Reynolds led off with a single in the bottom of the first. Reynolds stole second and third, which led Chelsea Regan hitting a deep flyball to right field for an out, but a poor throw to home allowed Reynolds to score.
After the run scored, Cain retired the next nine batters. West Lauderdale (34-4) then put up runs in the next three innings. The Lady Knights took advantage of mistakes made by Purvis' pitchers.
In the second inning, the Lady Tornadoes' starting pitcher, Jadie Byrd, surrendered a double and then a wild pitch to set up a run-scoring from a fielder's choice. In the next inning, Byrd loaded the bases after walking a pair of batters and giving up a double before a wild pitch scored another run to give West Lauderdale a 2-1 lead.
Regan then entered the game to end the threat in the third inning, but a one-out walk and then a sac bunt that landed for a hit set up a two-run RBI triple to push the lead to 4-1. Regan and Byrd combined to give up seven walks, with three of those resulting in runs.
"I'm a huge believer that you can't defend against walks," Robertson said. "We have got to command from the circle with our spots better."
West Lauderdale added an insurance run in the seventh inning from an RBI single. To add to Purvis' frustration, the Lady Knights committed four errors.
"That's the aggravating part; they spot you an error, and then you pop the ball up on the next out," Robertson said. "You can't capitalize on that."
Game 2 of the series will be played at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Southern Miss Softball Complex.
"We are going to see what they are made of," Robertson said. "We know what they can do. We are waiting to see it on Thursday."
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