By Michael Shipma

The Pike Liberal Arts School’s softball team picked up its third win of the season in come-from-behind fashion on Thursday, winning 7-6 at Lakeside Academy.

The Lady Patriots (3-2) fell behind 5-0 by the third quarter, but clawed their way back into the game to set up a three-run homer from Sam Yarbrough that gave her team the lead at the top of the seventh. First-year head coach Robert Rolland was forced to make several pitching changes throughout the game as a result of minor injuries to his starters, but a sound defensive showing from the Lady Patriots in the final innings gave Pike Lib the lift they needed to steal the game from the Chiefs.

“Right now, we don’t have a whole lot of chemistry with girls being out of town,” said Rolland after the game. “However, we’re working hard right now to find it. We got a little confidence going, and once we had that, we made our routine plays.”

Yarbrough got the win for Pike Lib, her third of the season, while also batting 2-4. It was her home run at the top of the seventh with her team down 4-6 that gave the Lady Patriots the lead they needed to complete the comeback.

Amanda Finlayson got the start for Pike Lib in the circle, but was replaced by Yarbrough in the second after the Lady Patriots fell behind five runs. Yarbrough pitched three innings, giving up only one run, but was replaced by Finlayson due to an injury to Yarbrough’s throwing hand that kept her from pitching the remainder of the contest.

Finlayson would be taken replaced again, however, after she also received an injury to her throwing arm that kept her out of the circle for the game.

Due to a shorthanded roster with several players out of town, and his starting pitchers temporarily sidelined, Rolland called up seventh-grader Dannah Dawson to close the game for Pike Lib. They got the three outs needed to end Lakeside’s chances to go back on top, facing just three batters in the process.

The first batter grounded out to first, the second got on base, and the defense generated an excellent double play off a hit from the third batter to seal the victory.

“This was huge for Dannah to come up big for us like that,” Rolland said after the game. “It was a big game, and that’s every girl’s dream to play up on the varsity team and get a win like that.”

With its season now in full swing, Pike Lib will look to continue to improve when the Lady Patriots travel to Luverne for a matchup against Crenshaw Christian Academy on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.