With 27 combined runs between the two, West Marion and East Marion put on an offensive show March 12 as the Lady Trojans edged out the Lady Eagles 17-10.
According to West Marion head coach Mike McMullin, the game was indicative of how far the county has come with its softball abilities.
“Marion County has just gotten so much better in softball. It doesn’t matter if it’s Columbia, East or West; there’s a lot of talent here,” he said. “I think East has a good chance to win their district. Columbia is going to be tough to beat. I think we’ve beat them once in the past few years.”
The Lady Trojans (5-0) fell behind 6-0 early but rallied for a 12-run inning to take the lead and pull away for the win. Makayla Morgan got the win, tossing five innings, and Olivia Miller shut the door in two innings in relief. Sara Morgan and Samaria Pittman led the offense with a few hits each, according to McMullin, and he said it was an impressive win for West Marion.
“East Marion is a really good ball team. They hit the ball and have so much speed that always scares me,” he said. “Any time you play the rival schools, it’s a good victory.”
The veteran coach said the Lady Trojans have to develop more consistency and avoid big innings, but he was proud of the way they battled back to climb out of the 6-0 hole and find a way to win the game.
“I wish we would just play a steady seven innings and not have to crawl back out of a hole or lose a big lead. But that’s just part of it early in the season, and hopefully we’ll get through that by the time we get to district,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to go through those situations so you don’t put yourself in those situations again.”
McMullin added West Marion is getting better every week, and that’s all he can ask for.
For East Marion (2-5), Adrinae Aikens and Holly Jackson both went 3-for-4 at the dish, while Jalasia Akins went 2-for-3 and Kylie Watts had a pair of hits in four at-bats. Akins sparked a four-run rally with a nice bunt for a hit with two hits, according to head coach Jeremy Allen.
“We lost, but I think we grew. We fought the whole game. We really only had one inning where we made mistakes, and we really didn’t make many mistakes. We gave up some hits and a couple walks and some groundballs got by us in the outfield that let them score,” he said. “My girls came off the field and said, ‘Coach, we ain’t quitting. We can beat them.’ They actually believed in themselves, so they grew up. I think that’s going to help us going into district next week.”
Going into the game, the Lady Eagles were focused on performing better with runners in scoring position, and Allen said they did just that, stranding just two runners all game in scoring position. The two that were stranded came very close to scoring as well, but a hard-hit liner off Aikens’ bat in the gap got tracked down to take away a potential two-run double.
East Marion will play host to Lumberton in a doubleheader Monday before taking on West Marion again Tuesday. Then the Lady Eagles will begin Region 8-2A play Thursday at Perry Central and at St. Patrick Friday.
“We’re looking forward to correcting the little things we messed up with before we went on spring break,” Allen said. “We want to fix those and play well against West Marion going into district. We just have those couple little tweaks left for it all to click.”
West Marion will be at home for three games next week, hosting Hattiesburg Monday, East Marion in a rematch Tuesday and McComb Friday in a makeup game. It will begin district play March 29 when OLA visits Foxworth.
