Lee County survives Tift comeback

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, September 14, 2022

TIFTON — Lily Robinson’s two-run single Tuesday, Sept. 13, pulled Tift County’s Lady Devils softball team within a run of Lee County, but unfortunately Tift’s big comeback ended there. Lee held on to the 8-7 score, sending the Lady Devils to a 2-3 Region 1-6A record.

Tift evened their record at 3-3 Sept. 19 with an 18-3 victory over Northside of Warner Robins.

The Lady Trojans were up 6-4 after three innings. Single runs in the 4th and 6th made the gap even larger, but Tift was no about to go quietly.

Loralee Bennett led off the bottom of the 7th with a single. She was erased at second when Bailee Williams hit into a fielder’s choice, though seconds later there were two Lady Devils on the basepaths after a Macy Hand single to right.

At second, Williams lured a throw from Lee’s catcher to start a double steal. That was while Delanie Jewell was earning a walk, loading the bases. Angie Martinez scored Williams on a ground out to third, sending Robinson to the dish.

Robinson, whose confidence grew by the inning against Lee, brought that over to the batter’s box. Robinson delivered her second single of the day and this one was hard enough to bring in both Hand and Jewell.

This time, it was Lee’s turn to dig deep and Mikayla Kierce induced a pop to shortstop to cut the comeback short.

Tift struck first against the Lady Trojans with an opening frame run in an unusual fashion. Bennett struck out on a ball in the dirt and beat the throw. Two wild pitches moved her to third, making it easy for her to score on Jewell’s single to right field.

Lee came back with three runs, with a big defensive play keeping from being even more.

After Reagan Watkins and Jhazymine Frisbee both singled, Emmalee Freeman doubled to drive in Watkins. Sydney Lord hit a slow roller to first. Frisbee took off for home and Bennett threw to Martinez for an easy tag.

Rahne Parker walked with the bases loaded and Brianna Johnson singled to bring Lee’s lead to 3-1.

Undeterred, the Lady Devils immediately responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the 2nd.

Robinson walked and was sacrificed to second by Martinez. Kensie Law took advantage of a Lee error to reach and, with two outs, Bennett singled in Robinson. Law scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 3-3.

Another wild pitch put Bennett at third and Williams earned a walk. Here, head coach Taylor Barber rolled the dice and Williams ran towards second, trying to goad a throw. It worked as soon as a throw left the catcher’s hand, Bennett took off and had just enough time to beat a throw back home. Tift low led, 4-3.

The Lady Trojans did not let that advantage stay long. Hits put Watkins and Freeman on base, both scoring on an error. Lee got one more run across, Lord and Kierce pulling off their own delayed double steal, Lord scoring.

In the 4th, Watkins singled in Anna Lang. However, that flipped a switch for Robinson, who became very hard to hit after.

Robinson ended the 4th with a pair of strikeouts. Only three more Lady Trojans reached base over the last three innings. One of these runners, Lang, stole home, a play that did see Martinez catch the other runner attempting to swipe second.

Law singled in the 4th for Tift, as did Robinson in the 6th, but neither made it beyond second.

Bennett and Robinson notched two hits apiece for the Lady Devils, with Bennett scoring twice. Robinson had a pair of RBIs.