Lady Eagles defeat Elba 9-6 in area tourney
Published 3:00 am Wednesday, April 29, 2015
With a win over Elba Tuesday afternoon, the Goshen Lady Eagles advanced in the area tournament being held at their home field, but Head Coach Amy Warrick was not happy.
“I’m not happy with this,” Warrick said as her team was leaving the field with a 9-6 win. “I don’t like the way we ended. I am not happy.”
The Lady Eagles took a 9-1 lead into the seventh inning but let the Elba Lady Tigers back in the game with five unearned runs and a final score that indicated the game was closer than it was.
The Lady Eagles started fast with four runs in the first inning off the bats of Casey Allen, Katie Thomas and Tessa Little and a sacrifice bunt by Fran Warrick.
The Lady Tigers put one run across the plate.
Lady Eagle Katlyn Gamble singled in the fourth inning and scored on an error and Lizzy Galloway’s base hit to make the score 5-1.
Katie Thomas found the fence in the fifth inning and the Lady Eagles were holding comfortable lead at 6-1.
In the sixth inning, the Lady Eagles’ bats got hot. Singles by Warrick, Carmen Kelly and Casey Allen and a double by Lizzy Galloway upped the score to 9-1 going into the seventh inning.
Timely hitting by the Lady Tigers and unforced errors by the Eagles allowed the Tigers to put five runs on the board before a pop fly ended the Tigers’ rally.
Lizzy Galloway went the distance on the mound and picked up the win for the Lady Eagles.
“We hit well and, basically, I was pleased with the defense,” Warrick said of her team’s play. “We covered the bunt well and we had worked on that. But then we had all those errors in the seventh. We were up by eight and we lost our focus. I’d like to think the errors were from being young but it wasn’t that. We just let down.”
Warrick said her team came out focused and with the kind of energy she likes to see.
“We lost our focus at the end and our energy, too,” she said. “We’ve got to do better at ending the game. If we want to keep playing, we’ve got to stay focused and not let down. We were up 9-1 and let them score five runs. That’s not the way to end a game.”
New Brockton and Zion Chapel round out the four-team area tournament.
The Lady Eagles are scheduled to play again Thursday at 3:30 at the Goshen High School Softball Field.