STARKVILLE — Starkville Academy”s Lyndsey Haynes mixed her pitches to mix up the Central Academy Lady Vikings at the plate.
Haynes scattered four hits Tuesday afternoon to lead Starkville Academy to a 9-1 victory at home.
“I didn”t throw one pitch in the same place the whole time,” said Haynes, who allowed three bunt singles. “If I threw outside and she”d foul it off, I”d go inside and high. Every pitch changed completely. It messed them up. The game (against Kemper Academy on Monday) I threw too much in the same place and I messed up and they would hit it.”
Haynes struck out the first four and five of the first seven and finished with eight strikeouts.
“That helped my confidence,” Haynes said. “It always helps when you start out the game strong. When you get behind coming back is the hardest thing to do in softball because it”s a slower game and you don”t have much time.”
Haynes didn”t allow a baserunner until she hit Marion Colvin with a pitch with two outs in the second inning. Megan Banks beat out a bunt single in the third for Central Academy”s first hit.
“From what I could see she was throwing it by them, more than anything,” said Haynes” father, Starkville Academy coach Randy Haynes.
Corey Dawkins and Colvin also had bunt singles, and Corey Dawkins has a solid hit to right for Central Academy (1-1).
The Lady Vikings broke up Haynes” shutout bid by Haynes in the fifth when Corey Dawkins singled and scored on the back end of a double steal.
“They have a great pitcher,” Central Academy coach Pres Dawkins said. “She pitched great. She kept it away from us. We”re going to get back into the batting cage and, hopefully, we”ll show up better next time. Right now we”re not executing. We have to get our bunts down and into play. If we start doing that, we”ve got speed, we”ll be OK.”
Randy Haynes credited his daughter for getting loose before the game, which helped her pitch well.
“We warmed up our pitcher a little harder than we have been,” Haynes said. “We were a little bit flat (against Kemper), so we made sure everybody got warmed up.
“I make sure she does what we call walk throughs when she”s warming up. She actually stretches when she walks out getting her stride out farther. She just warmed up longer. I told her, ”You just got to get super loose so you can be throwing faster.” ”
Starkville Academy (3-0) took a 2-0 lead in the first and scored three runs in the third and four runs in the fourth.
The Lady Volunteers had four hits and capitalized on three errors, two wild pitches, and seven walks (five in the fourth). They scored two runs on wild pitches and two runs on walks.
Megan Aucoin led Starkville Academy with a two-run single in the third and an RBI single in the fourth. Mary Austin Barber had an RBI single in the first, and Kylie Lockhart added a single.
Lillian Lindsey was the starting pitcher for Central Academy. Alex Dawkins relieved her in the fourth.
Starkville Academy plays Kemper Academy again Thursday, while Central Academy plays Friday at Wayne Academy.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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