WARNER ROBINS – “If” is the biggest word in the English language. If Houston County hadn’t committed four errors that resulted in four Lowndes unearned runs, the Lady Bears would not have lost 5-1 to the Vikettes Saturday afternoon at home.
“We made too many mental and physical errors,” said Houston County head coach Christi Griffin.
If the Lady Bears could have figured out how to keep Lowndes’ Amanda Parsons off the bases, the game would have stayed 1-1.
Parsons had two slap singles that just managed to elude fielders.
Her sacrifice bunt in the third moved Alden Pope into scoring position. Pope tied the score 1-1 on Arrica Dallas’s RBI single. It gave the Vikettes a short-lived 1-0 lead.
Houston County had taken the lead 1-0 in the third. Parson singled to open the fifth inning and broke a 1-1 tie, scoring on a two base error.
“Parsons drives our offense,” said Lowndes coach Jared Dickey. “We put (offensive) pressure on them, made them field the ball and make plays.”
They did by playing classic small ball softball, starting with lead off hitter Parsons.
“We do a lot T-work focusing on slapping,” Parsons said. “My assistant coach Amy Broad works with us a lot on it.”
Parsons doesn’t crowd the plate.
That allows her to react to inside pitches, which is where most pitchers like to put the ball against slappers.
“I can back off and get out of the way,” Parsons said, “or lay down a bunt.”
“We’re not a team that will hit the gaps or hit home runs,” Dickey said. “We play small ball. As a coach, I hate to see those slappers come up (against us), but I wish I had three or more.”
Houston County tied the game in their turn at bat in the third.
Kari LeBlanc tripled. A batter later, Jessica Chester singled to drive in LeBlanc. That put the Lady Bears even 1-1 until the fifth.
If Houston County doesn’t commit an error in each of the last the last three innings, Lady Bears’ pitcher Mary Beth Taylor notches her first win of the season. Those errors accounted for two Vikettes runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh.
Taylor pitched six innings, allowed seven hits, five runs, one of them earned, and struck out two. Without the errors, Lowndes had only one inning where a batter went beyond first based on a hit or a bunt.
Against Pope, the Vikettes pitcher, the Lady Bears managed only three hits with eight of their outs occurring on pop ups and easy fly balls. She faced only one batter over the minimum over the last four innings “We need to make up our minds and swing hard,” Griffin said.
SCOREBOARD LOWNDES 4, HOUSTON COUNTY 1 LD: 001 021 1 – 5 7 0 HC: 001 000 0 – 1 3 4 WP: Alden Pope. LP: Mary Beth Taylor. Leading hitters: (L) Amanda Parson 2-3, Kailyn Sorrell 2-3 2B, Pope 2-3; (HC) Kari LeBlanc 1-2, 3B, Jessica Chester 1-2, Kalie Matthews 1-3. Records: (L) 6-3, 3-0 in 1-AAAAA; (HC) 1-1-1, 1-1.
