After starting the Thomasville tournament with a win to improve to 2-0 this season, the W.S. Neal Lady Eagle softball team lost their next two games to finish 1-2 in tournament play and fall to 2-2 this season.
The Lady Eagles of East Brewton opened tournament play Saturday with a 2-0 win over Millry, but lost 8-1 to host Thomasville in their final game of pool play.
In the single elimination part of the tournament, the Lady Eagles took a 13-11 loss to the Jackson Lady Aggies to get eliminated.
“This tournament did not go the way we had planned, but it was a great learning experience for our team,’ W.S. Neal head coach Jeff Haney said. “This was the first tournament experience for most of our starters, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am proud of the way they battled all day.”
Haney said his team played pretty well against Millry in game one.
“They are an improved team from last year, and our defense played well enough to keep them off the scoreboard,” he said. “Our hitting has gotten better in every game we have played thus far. We faced a solid pitcher from Thomasville, and put the ball in play quite a bit. However, we only managed three hits and made too many errors to compete with the Tigers.”
Haney said the Jackson game was a hard fought game for both teams.
“The field conditions were awful after all the rain the night before the tourney,” he said. “We had one bad inning where we made all of our errors and allowed Jackson to score 10 runs. I wasn’t sure we were mentally tough enough to stay in the game after that, but our girls surprised me and kept fighting. Our bats really came alive and we were able to tie the game up in the sixth. We just came up a little short in that last at bat and left a runner on third. I look forward to the rest of this season because I expect us to continue to improve and work toward the area championship.”
W.S. Neal is scheduled to play at Excel Tuesday. Game time is set for a 4 p.m. JV game and a 5:30 p.m. varsity game.
The JV Lady Eagles will play at Flomaton on Thursday in a 4 and 5:30 p.m. doubleheader while the varsity Lady Eagles will play in the TRM Invitational Friday and Saturday in Brewton at the YMCA Sports Park.

WSN 2, Millry 0
In a pitcher’s duel that saw only four combined hits between the two teams, W.S. Neal edged out Millry 2-0 to start the tournament with a win.
The Lady Eagles scored one run in the first inning and one in the fifth while holding Millry scoreless to get the win.
Kaitlin Hadaway earned the win on the mound for the Lady Eagles as she went the complete game five innings and allowed one hit, no runs and struck out five.
Hadaway was 1-for-2 at the plate with one RBI while Tori Wyatt was 1-for-2 with one RBI as well. Kena Ellison was 1-for-2 with one run scored.

Thomasville 8, WSN 1
In game two, W.S. Neal was held to one run on three hits and made seven errors as they took an 8-1 loss to the host Thomasville Lady Tigers.
W.S. Neal’s lone run came in the second inning while Thomasville scored two in the first and three each in the second and third innings.
Hadaway took the loss on the mound going two innings and allowing five hits, three earned runs and struck out one.
Haleigh Dubose went the final two innings and allowed no hits, no earned runs and struck out two.
Kaeli Brown and Ellison were both 1-for-2 in the loss at the plate. Adria Barnett was also 1-for-2.

Jackson 13, WSN 11
A 10-run fourth inning for Jackson led to a 13-11 win over W.S. Neal in the final game of the day for the Lady Eagles.
Leading 1-0 after two innings, W.S. Neal saw Jackson score 10 in the fourth inning to take a 10-1 lead. W.S. Neal responded with five in the fifth to cut the lead to 10-6, but Jackson added one more run in the bottom of the inning to take an 11-6 lead. After W.S. Neal tied the game at 11-all in the top of the sixth, Jackson added two more runs in the bottom of the inning and held W.S. Neal scoreless in the final inning to get the win by two.
Hadaway took the loss on the mound going six innings and striking out eight. Hadaway allowed nine hits and five earned runs.
At the plate, Dubose was 3-for-4 with a single, a triple, a homerun, three RBIs and scored two runs.
Karissa Johnson was 3-for-3 with three singles, one RBI and was hit by pitch. Brown was 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI.