It was a busy weekend in softball as all three Marion County teams took part in the Columbia Invitational Softball Tournament, but there could only be one team who came out on top — the West Marion Lady Trojans.
After losing to Sumrall 10-0 earlier in the week, West Marion (4-1) went on a three-game tear to be crowned champions, beating McComb, South Pike and Salem.
As the host school, the Lady Wildcats (6-3) started off the tournament with a big 12-3 win over East Marion Feb. 24 but played one of their worst games of the season Saturday morning in a 10-6 loss to Salem. However, they responded to win their final game of the tournament Saturday afternoon 19-2 over McComb then beat Bogue Chitto 13-3 on Monday.
First-year head coach Jamie Powell said the Lady Wildcats are still allowing too many runners on base and making too many mistakes defensively, but he loves the way they’re competing pitch to pitch.
“We just still have to get that killer instinct. But I like the growth of the team and where we’re at at this early point in the season,” he said. “It’s been good to win some games and be successful early. We start district play next week, and we just need to be more consistent defensively. Our bats have been pretty good most of the season. Our defense just hasn’t played a real solid defensive game yet like I really think we’re capable of playing.”
Powell said Columbia pitcher Alyssa Ancalade pitched really well against Bogue Chitto with only two walks but that the Lady Wildcats committed five or six errors behind her.
As of press time Tuesday, Jessica Baker was leading Columbia with a .526 average while Mia Miciello was batting .462, Jaylah McNease .458 and Jalaysia Everett .421. As a team, they’re hitting .385 and doing a good job of putting together solid at-bats, according to Powell.
“But defense wins championships, and offense sells the tickets,” he said. “We still throw the ball to the wrong places at times and make too many errors for my liking, but the kids are working hard and growing. Some of that can be chalked up to youth, but I do like the effort we’re playing with.”
Columbia has a big week ahead with East Marion on the road Thursday and West Marion at home Friday.
Meanwhile, the Lady Eagles (3-3) followed up its loss to Columbia with a dominant 22-6 win over South Pike. Asia Lenoir led the way with a home run, a triple and 4 RBI, while Kylie Watts had three doubles and 3 RBI and Car’Miyah Bullock and Holly Jackson each drove in a pair. Zi’Kiya Bridges earned the win, striking out seven batters in three innings.
“We’ve played well,” head coach Jeremy Allen said. “We played well against Columbia, but the score doesn’t show how we actually played. (Against) South Pike, we were missing (Adrinae Akins) because she was at South State powerlifting, but they responded well after the loss to Columbia the night before.”
East Marion followed up the tournament with a 16-5 loss at home Monday to Jeff Davis County in a matchup the Lady Eagles weren’t prepared for, according to Allen.
“I think we had a little bit of a big head because we’ve never lost to JDC or Bassfield when they were Bassfield. We were confident it was the same team they’ve always had. But they have a pitcher in the circle that is very dominant, and she dominated us (Monday) night.”
Allen said he believes Bridges is coming along well, but her next step is commanding her changeup better. He said she’s consistently getting ahead in counts with her fastball but then will hit a batter with her changeup in a 0-2 or 1-2 count.
“Those extra base runners, oftentimes, find a way to score. Other than that, she’s pitching well,” he said. “She’s trying to locate her fastball and is getting people to miss and getting her defense to play behind her. She’s doing better than expected to start the season.”
The Lady Eagles played at Salem Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. They will play host to Columbia Thursday.
