A three-run third inning for the W.S. Neal Lady Eagle softball team and the pitching of Kaitlin Hadaway led the Lady Eagles to a 5-3 season opening win over the Central Lady Jaguars Tuesday in East Brewton.
Leading 1-0 after one inning, W.S. Neal saw their lead disappear after two innings in the second inning led to a 2-1 Central lead heading into the third inning. W.S. Neal regained the lead and never looked back in the bottom of the third after they scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead. W.S. Neal took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning and held on for the two-run win after Central plated their final run in the top of the fifth.
“It is a good way to start off the year,” W.S. Neal Lady Eagle head coach Jeff Haney said. “Last year we started off the year, but it was something that we overcame. It is always good to start out with a win. I will take it. We are young and we have a lot of stuff to work on. I would like to have had another month of practice before we played a game. The season is what it is and we have to do it. We are going to get better as the season goes along. Kaitlin did a good job pitching. I don’t know her stats right now but she struck out a lot and got a lot of outs for her. We made a couple of errors that gave up a couple of runs early. They made some errors that helped us out with some runs, but we have to start swing the bat better. It is something we struggled with last year all year. The group is starting to come around a little bit and it is going to take them some time. I am just glad we were able to get the win and we are going to practice a little bit and get ready for Thomasville this weekend.”
Hadaway earned the win on the mound going the complete game seven innings and allowed four hits, three runs, walked one and struck out 12.
At the plate, Kena Ellison led the Lady Eagles with two singles. KeKe Floyd and Kaeli Brown both had two singles in the win.
Brown and Tori Wyatt both had one RBI each in the win.
W.S. Neal will play in the Thomasville Lady Tiger classic on Saturday and at Excel on Tuesday.
In the classic Saturday, the Lady Eagles will begin play at 10:30 a.m. against Millry and then take on Thomasville at noon. The game with Excel will start at 4 p.m. with the JV playing while the varsity will begin at 5:30 p.m.