The Lady Patriots played with “confidence and maturity” as they earned a first-round 8-2 win over Edgewood in the Macon East softball tournament.

“It’s big,” said head coach Robert Rollan. “We came out and shut them down. That’s just really good ball. We played with confidence and maturity. ”

Pitcher Samantha Yarbrough played a key role in the game, shutting out Edgewood in the first three innings with six strikeouts.

“We played a great defensive game. We started the game not letting up any runs,” Rollan said.

The Patriots kicked off the scoring in the first inning with double by Kayla Dendy doubled and later came around to score to give the Patriots the early lead.

Neither team scored until the fifth inning, when Patriots power hitter, Yarbrough smashed a ball over the fence for a homerun that also scored Amanda Finlayson.

With the score 3-2 heading into the sixth the Patriots scored five runs on three hits, two errors and two walksto break the game wide open.

Callee Jinright finished the game 2-3 with a run scored. Elaina Strother went 1-3 with two RBIs and Yarbrough finished 1-1 with two RBIs

The Patriots will face Marengo later today. First pitch has yet to be announced due to weather.