SUMRALL – The Sumrall Lady Bobcats are right where they want to be through the first nine games of the season.
Facing a tough task Tuesday night, Sumrall used a four-run sixth inning to beat the Poplarville Lady Hornets 4-2, and it took over sole-possession of first place in the region in the process. The Lady ’Cats moved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in Region 7-4A.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click for photos from Matt Bush.
“It was a great win,” Sumrall coach Dodie Robertson said. “Both of our pitchers did an excellent job. We went five innings scoreless and it came down to a little bit of pressure on us. They scored two in the sixth and we hadn’t had a hit all night up until that point, so we had our hands full.”
Sumrall was held in check by the Poplarville pitcher, Gracie Raby. She threw four 1-2-3 innings, and the only frame Sumrall had a baserunner besides the sixth inning was because of an error in the third.
Sumrall’s Brianna McCray answered Raby, though. She held the Lady Hornets scoreless until the two-run sixth inning, but she did find herself in some jams throughout the contest.
Poplarville had a runner at third base with two outs, but a groundout to first base ended the inning. After a clean second inning, Poplarville, again, put a runner on base in the third, but it couldn’t score. In the fourth, the Lady Hornets had a runner get to third with one out, and like the prior innings, they couldn’t get her home.
The biggest jam came in the fifth inning, however. After Poplarville loaded the bases with two outs, a fly out to right field ended the threat and kept the game scoreless.
“(McCray) has done such a good job for us this year,” Robertson said. “She had a few starts for us last year, but this year she has started every game for us. She did a lot of work over the summer and she has improved. She’s pitching excellent right now. She found herself in some binds and she’s been able to work through them and get out of it.
“That’s just a sign of maturity and a sign that she’s coming to.”
The Lady Hornets finally broke through with the two lone runs in the next frame. A leadoff single and back-to-back one-out walks set up an RBI hit-by-pitch from Denasia Fulton. The second run scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.
Sumrall was making contact with pitches all night, but unlike any of the first five innings, those hard hit balls in the sixth led to baserunners and runs.
Karley Russell reached base on an error from the Poplarville third baseman, then moved to third off a single by Abagail Thexton. Another error by the Lady Hornets scored both runners to tie the game. Taylor Green made it on base after the third error of the frame, and both pinch runner Shaylee Ingram and Lilly Robertson, who reached on the second error, scored when Kaitlyn Russell double to center field.
“Just some hard ground balls that they had to make a play on and they just didn’t,” Dodie Robertson said. “That got us going. Just a little momentum, that’s how hitting is. When somebody gets us started and it just seems to fire everybody us. It’s like a chain reaction.
“I’m glad it happened to us.”
That gave Sumrall a 4-2 lead, and Karley Russell closed the door in the top of the seventh in the circle.
