No. 3 Lady Wolves take two from Pearl River

WESSON – The No. 3 ranked Co-Lin Lady Wolves (17-1, 12-0) swept a doubleheader from the Pearl River Lady Wildcats (13-7, 6-4) 5-1 in both games.

"This team just gets hungrier every single day," said Co-Lin assistant softball coach Drake Flowers. "Every day you can see something in them that says they are ready to step up and win big games, and that's what we did tonight. Pearl River is a really good team, and we stepped up to compete. The biggest thing we see right now is that we just keep getting better with each game, and that's all we can do. We are super proud of these ladies and are excited to keep this season rolling."

GAME 1

The Lady Wolves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Madi Miller (Brookhaven/Brookhaven High School), Shelbi Maxwell (Wesson/Wesson Attendance Center) and Abigail Carter (Mendenhall/Simpson Academy) drew walks. Pitcher Cera Blanchard (Metairie, LA/De La Salle High School) helped her own caused by hitting a 2-RBI double to right field.

Co-Lin would add a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Carlon Brabham (Amite, LA/Oak Forest Academy) led off with a single to center. Carter send a shot over the left field fence to put the Lady Wolves up 4-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Karly Leake (Bogue Chitto/Bogue Chitto High School) and Miller walked to start the inning. Maxwell hit a bunt single to load the bases. Brabham flied out, but Leake was able to score to make the score 5-0.

Pearl River got on the board in the top of the seventh inning courtesy of an error and a couple of walks as Hannah Miller scored.

"We came out with some good approaches at the plate," said Flowers. "We only scored five runs, but that's really not indicative of how well we swung the bats. Cera was lockdown again in the circle and our defense stepped up and made some plays when we needed them."

Blanchard had another stellar performance in the circle to pick up her ninth win of the season. She gave up two hits, no earned runs, struck out seven and walked four in seven innings of work.

Hannah Embry suffered the loss for Pearl River. She allowed five earned runs on seven hits, struck out four and walked five. Lindsay-Rose Sheffer also saw action in the circle tossing one inning giving up one run and walking one.

At the plate for the Lady Wolves, Carter led the way with a home run and a double for two RBIs. Blanchard doubled for a pair of RBIs. Maxwell had a pair of singles. Adding support with a single apiece were Miller, Brabham (one RBI) and Leake.

For Pearl River, Taylor York had a pair of singles.

GAME 2

Much like game one, the Lady Wolves jumped out to an early lead. In the bottom of the second inning, Carter hit her second home run of the day to put the Lady Wolves on top 1-0, a solo shot over the left field fence.

Co-Lin added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Carter was hit by a pitch. First baseman Bela Dekovic hit her third home run of the season to put the Lady Wolves up 3-0.

Pearl River scratched a run in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single from Kambryn Chaisson.

The Lady Wolves added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pinch hitter Malori Cade (Brookhaven/Loyd Star High School) doubled to center field to plate Mallory Johnson (Jackson/Northwest Rankin High School) who singled and Miller who walked.

"This was probably our best defensive performance of the year," said Flowers. "We were really locked in and took away some hits from them to stop their momentum. Bella did a great job filling up the zone. Again, we had good approaches at the plate. We barreled a lot of balls up that they also made some good plays on, so we definitely give them a ton of credit for that."

Winning pitcher was sophomore Bella Luckey (Mendenhall/Simpson Academy). Luckey (8-1) allowed one earned run, scattered nine hits, struck out seven, and walked one in seven innings of work.

Madelyn Burch absorbed the loss for Pearl River. She gave up three earned runs on 10 hits and struck out three in 4.1 innings. Danielle Lalonde tossed the final 1.2 innings. She allowed one earned run on two hits, struck out three and walked one.

Leading Co-Lin's 12 hit attack was Miller and Johnson with a pair of singles. Dekovic (two RBIs) and Carter (one RBI) had a home run apiece. Cade doubled (one RBI). Adding support with a single apiece were Maxwell, Brabham, Blanchard, Madalyn Wilkinson (Madison/Germantown High School) and Leake.

For Pearl River, York had three hits and Makiya Hunter had a double and a single. Mickall Holder doubled. Adding a single apiece were Erin Daughtery, Sydney Runnels and Chaisson.

Next up:  The Lady Wolves travel to Fulton to take on the No. 6 ranked Itawamba Lady Indians on Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m.