By By Chandler Myers
Special to the Standard
One word could be used to describe the game between the Escambia County Lady Blue Devils and the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles with that word being domination.
The Lady Blue Devils dominated both ends of the game as they routed the Lady Blue Eagles 18-3 for their second victory of the season.
ECHS (2-0) had control of the game from the first pitch as they batted around their order in the first inning.
Lady Blue Eagles starting pitcher Jennie Crawford had a tough go as she walked six batters and gave up six hits to start the game leading to 11 runs for the Lady Blue Devils.
Leading the way for the Lady Blue Devils were seniors Raven Culliver and Ashleigh Taylor. Culliver had a double and scored two runs in the inning, while Taylor slapped a double and a single into play and crossed the plate twice. Overall the pair combined for a 4-for-5 performance in the win.
Lady Blue Devils head coach William Casaday said his team really had a winning mindset coming into this game, and added that he was happy to see so many girls reach base.
After setting the tone for the game, the Lady Blue Devils took to the field and starting pitcher Raven Culliver led a three up and three down inning.
Culliver struck out Lady Blue Eagles Renee Boatwright and her pitching counterpart Crawford, while Katie Elliot grounded out to end the inning.
Culliver was pulled after the first inning, and Manieka Smith came into the game in relief.
Smith pitched to four Neal batters in the inning striking out two and allowing one to reach base on an error.
Casaday said pitching plays an important role, and added his pitchers have done a great job of keeping batters off the bases.
In the top of the third inning, the Lady Blue Devils added two more runs with Taylor and Latesha Lee crossing the plate to make the score 13-0.
Lee went 1-for-1 in the game with a single, a run scored and was walked three times.
Escambia County then entered Makayla Norman into the game to pitch in the third inning.
Norman started the inning by allowing Lady Blue Eagles second baseman Tiffany Pettis on the bases with a single.
Pettis would score Neal’s first run of the game after Norman walked Autumn Hinoto and Crawford advancing Pettis around the base path.
In the Lady Blue Devils final at bat, they added five more runs with Norman, Lee, Canausha Crenshaw, Quinn Gray and Cha’Nae Lyles to score. Norman and Gray reached base with singles, while the other batters were walked.
The Lady Eagles were not able to rally in the bottom of the fourth with the score 18-1, but did add two more runs with Chelsey Southwell and Porche Hasting crossing the plate.
After allowing the two runs, Norman ended the game by striking out her final two batters.
Casaday said the win was a good stepping stone for his team.
Lindsey Southwell was 1-for-2 in the loss for the Lady Eagles and Renee Boatwright was 1-for-3.
W.S. Neal was set to take on McKenzie on Tuesday in McKenzie and will return to action on Friday, March 5 against T.R. Miller in East Brewton at 4 p.m.
The game against T.R. Miller was originally set to be a home game for the Lady Tigers, but the game has been changed to the city field for Friday.
W.S. Neal will now travel to Brewton to play T.R. Miller High School on April 2.