SUMRALL – Monday night's outcome between Sumrall and Forrest County Agricultural was unexpected, to say the least, as the Lady Bobcats quickly came away with an 11-1 run-rule win over the Lady Aggies.
Both sides entered the Region 7 matchup with nine wins on the year, with both Sumrall (9-1) and FCAHS (9-2) averaging 10.5 runs per game.
"It was a good day, and that's a good team," Sumrall coach Dodie Robertson said. "They were 9-2 coming into this, and they had a really good start. We knew that pitching was going to be good. We knew we had to hit tonight to win, and we hit the ball well tonight. I thought we did what we were supposed to do."
The Lady Aggies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, with Grace Essary hitting an RBI single with two outs.
"We just got outhit and got outplayed," FCAHS coach James Wallace said. "You can't help out a good team. They put the ball in play, and we didn't.
"(Our expectation) was a whole lot better than 11-1 in five innings. (When) you are 9-2; you expect to be a little more competitive than what it was. Tonight, we didn't look like we were 9-2."
Sumrall quickly answered in the bottom of the first with Brandi Bond and Autumn Burkhalter hitting RBI single to go up 2-1. From there, the Lady Bobcats never looked back as Sumrall scored four runs in the second, one run in the third and fourth and three more in the fifth.
"They put the ball in play, and they did what they had to do," Wallace said. "We threw some good pitches in there, but when they had runners on base, they put the ball in play. They put it to us. All the credit to them. They did what they had to do to win the ball game."
In the second inning, Olive Herrin hits a two-run RBI single. Bond and Shaylee Ingram later followed with back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead 6-1.
In the third, Tristan Montgomery, who finished the game, hit a solo home run that hit the right field's scoreboard. Ella Robertson then added a run in the fourth as she hit an RBI single in the fourth inning.
"That was awesome," Robertson said. "I'm so proud of (Montgomery). I don't think I saw anyone hit the scoreboard like that before. She had a good night. I think she had three hits, and that was the icing on the cake. She is a strong hitter. She had struggled a little bit in the last two games, so I was proud to see this goodnight from her."
Montgomery, who finished 3-for-3 with three RBI, hit a two-run single in the fifth. Herrin then hit an RBI double to end the game.
In total, Sumrall had 11 hits, with seven of those being RBI singles.
"We are going to hit the ball this year to win games because we don't have those pitchers that can strike out 17 hitters a game," Robertson said. "We know we are going to have to hit the ball because (teams) are going to hit us, and we'll have to play defense."
In the circle, Bond was equally as effective as the Sumrall offense as she allowed one run off three hits, hit one batter and struck out four. Bond also retired the last 10 batters she faced.
"This is the beginning," Robertson said. "This is our first district win to start us off. We lost to Greene County earlier. We have a big one again on Friday night. We pretty much know from here on out that we have to play like this in order to get these wins. We have a tough road ahead of us, but I think we have a group that can rise to the occasion."
Sumrall will stay at home and host Poplarville on Friday while FCAHS will return home to play Greene County.
