Area baseball and softball action this week saw a few teams finish out midseason tournaments while others continued nonregion play. Among the frenzy, Caledonia softball’s hot start was cooled on Tuesday in its first defeat of the year.
Caledonia
The Cavaliers’ softball team is no longer undefeated.
On Tuesday, the Cavs met their match on the road at Tuscaloosa County in a 5-1 loss that halted their run at nine straight wins to open the season. Caledonia held tightly to a 1-0 lead until the fourth inning, where Tuscaloosa plated four runs then added one more in the fifth for the victory. Head coach Andy Finch said after that first inning his team struggled to make contact on offense.
“We just couldn’t barrel it up,” he said. “They did a good job of mixing pitches up and our girls needed to see a good pitcher like that where (the ball) moves in and out and we take it as a learning curve. Just because you don’t win doesn’t mean you can’t learn stuff. …We’ve been swinging the bat really well until that point, and it happens; that’s a part of softball. You are going to slump, you may have been slumped for one game and you may come out of it, but we have a lot of veteran players, a lot of mature players, who have played a lot of varsity innings who have seen the battles and seen the playoffs and seen the district battles and stuff they’ve been in. And that’s was a district setting in a way and our district is tough with New Hope, Lafayette and Pontotoc. Seeing people like Tuscaloosa County helps prepare the girls for people like that.”
The Cavs return to the field at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Union and then begin Region 1-5A play on Tuesday at Columbus.
Starkville
Starkville’s trip to the Gulf Coast for the Battle at the Beach baseball tournament concluded on Wednesday with the team going 0-1-2 through three games.
On Tuesday, the Yellow Jackets had to settle for a 3-3 tie with Second Baptist due to time constraints at the tournament. Starkville (8-6-1, 1-1 Region 2-7A) fell behind 2-1 after the first three innings but managed to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Marcus Hendrix had three of the team’s five hits and scored two runs. On the mound, Will Moody went 4 ⅓ innings and gave up three runs (one earned) with three walks and four strikeouts. Dillon Malone closed out the rest of the game, walking three and fanning one.
On Wednesday, the Yellow Jackets battled Jackson Academy, the No. 3 team in the state according to MaxPreps, in their final game of the tournament and were dealt an 11-2 setback.
After the Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Starkville tied up the game with two runs in the second inning, but JA would not be denied as it piled on two more runs in the third, five in the fourth and two in the fifth. JA outhit Starkville 7-6 with six different Yellow Jackets producing one hit each. Along with a one hit, Torien Knox and Bradley Cohen also both notched one RBI. On the mound, all four of Starkville’s pitchers combined for seven walks and four strikeouts.
Up next, Starkville plays at Grenada tomorrow at 3 p.m. before continuing its region slate.
New Hope
After four games at the Gulf Coast Classic baseball tournament against foes from Tennessee, New Hope returns home with three more losses and one victory on its record.
The Trojans (7-7) were dealt two losses, 10-9 to Portland and 11-2 to St. George’s, on Tuesday and then fell 3-1 to Green Hill. The team’s only win was a 3-2 showing over Friendship Christian on Monday.
In softball, the Trojans fell to 6-6 overall with a 9-7 setback to Friendship Christian Tuesday.
New Hope raced out to a 4-1 lead after the first inning but the Commanders piled on four more runs in the second and one more in the third to pull ahead. The Trojans responded by taking a 7-6 lead with three runs in the top of fifth, but Friendship Christian rallied with three runs of their own in the bottom to hold on for the win. Addison Branch had two hits and three RBI to lead the Trojans at the plate, and Harper Minton also had two hits, a single and a triple, and two RBI.
New Hope’s baseball team is back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kosciusko, and its softball team will begin Region 1-5A play at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday hosting Lafayette.
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