By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
It was on the same field one week earlier where T.R. Miller Lady Tigers softball coach Jamie Riggs said his team needed to learn how to win a low-scoring game.
The Lady Tigers showed they have learned lesson Thursday when they surprised the Jay (Fla.) Lady Royals 4-2 at the Brewton YMCA Sports Complex.
T.R. Miller (6-3) got four solid innings from starter Halie Ellis, who left the mound with a 3-2 lead. Leigh Cooper made sure the door stayed close with three shutout innings of relief.
The Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Leslie Nalty singled and scored on an RBI triple by Terri Lynne Peacock.
That advantage stood until the top of the third inning when Jay used a single, an RBI double and a run-scoring error and moved in front 2-1.
T.R. Miller put Ellis in position for the win when it rallied for the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Rachel Bostic lined a one-out single, moved up a base on Ellis' sacrifice and scored on Haley Rilling's RBI single to tie the game. Rilling stole second and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Nalty.
The Lady Tigers picked up an important insurance run in the sixth inning when Courtney Krehbiel singled, went to third on a single by Bostic and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.
The Lady Tigers get a rematch against Jay in Florida Monday at 4:30 p.m. Original schedules had the game starting at 6 p.m.
At T.R. Miller
Jay 002 000 0 – 2 5 2
T.R. Miller 100 201 X – 4 8 1
TRM downs Excel
The Lady Tigers used their biggest run and hit output of the season Tuesday when they notched a 21-9 victory at Excel.
T.R. Miller looked as if it would make quick work of the Lady Panthers when it jumped out to an 11-0 lead through the top of the fourth inning.
Although the visitors extended that lead up to a game high margin of 15-3 in the fifth inning, any hopes T.R. Miller had of ending the game early on the 10-run rule disappeared when Excel came up with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and cut the gap to 15-9.
The Lady Tigers were able to regain their double digit advantage, but not until a five-run top of the seventh inning enabled them to regain their original 12-run lead.
Haley Rilling paced T.R. Miller's offense with five hits, all singles. Leigh Cooper, Emily Layton and Terri Lynne Peacock all had three.
At Excel
T.R. Miller 361 141 5 – 21 22 4
Excel 000 360 0 – 9 7 6