In a one-run game through the top of the fifth inning Thursday at the Brewton YMCA Sports Park, the T.R. Miller Tigers broke open their game with W.S. Neal in the bottom of the inning to help get them a 9-1 win over the Lady Eagles.
Leading 2-1 after the third inning, T.R. Miller (3-1) scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to lead 6-1 and added three runs in the sixth to take a 9-1 lead and win by eight.
W.S. Neal (3-3) scored first with one run in the third inning after a scoreless two innings, but it was all T.R. Miller after that as the Lady Tigers scored nine answered to get the win.
“This was a big win for us,” T.R. Miller Lady Tiger head coach Greg White said. “Anytime we beat Neal is a big win for us.”
White said that W.S. Neal is a much-improved team and their coaches are doing a good job over there.
“(W.S. Neal pitcher Kaitlin) Hadaway pitched a good game but we were able to make some adjustments to her pitching over the course of the game,” White said. “We put together a few big hits and some good base running over the last few innings that put a little pressure on their defense and we were able to score some runs to put it away. Our pitching and defense was solid today also. I believe we only made one error and that error lead to their one point being scored. So overall I’m very pleased with the win.”
W.S. Neal got on the board in the third inning after Autumn Hinote singled to score Kena Ellison who reached on a T.R. Miller error. From that point, no other Lady Eagle reached base until Haley Lum in the fifth inning who reached on a hit-by-pitch and advanced to second.
Lauren Boatwright had the other hit for W.S. Neal as she went 1-for-3 with a double in the first inning. Hinote was 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Hadaway pitched the complete game for W.S. Neal going six innings allowing nine hits, seven earned runs, one walk, and struck out four.
Lady Tiger pitcher Miranda Smith pitched seven innings for T.R. Miller allowing two hits, one run, walked one, hit one and struck out five.
At the plate for the Lady Tigers, Leah Brundidge put the game away in the sixth inning with a 3-run inside-the-park homerun making her 1-for-4 with three RBIs.
Audrey Hamric was 3-for-4 and Natalie Neal was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Taylor Guthrie was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Kristen Booker was 2-for-3 with a double.
“I was really proud of the way our team competed,” W.S. Neal Lady Eagle head coach Jeff Haney said. “Kaitlin did a great job for us. We were able to get a lot of fly ball opportunities thanks to her rise ball. We hit the ball pretty well, but left too many runners on base yet again. That has been our biggest problem this year so far. Our defense made a few errors, but also made some great plays to get us out of jams several times. We look forward to playing them again at our place in April. We keep getting better and better, and the work this team puts in is definitely showing.”
In the JV game, T.R. Miller defeated W.S. Neal Middle School 11-6.
Moriah Brundidge pitched three innings for T.R. Miller and Lizzy Pollitte pitched the last inning and struck out one.
Jessica Allan was 2-for-2 and Ali Taylor was 2-for-2 for T.R. Miller. No stats were known for W.S. Neal.