Lady Devils destroy Northside in impromptu road game

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, September 20, 2022

WARNER ROBINS — Tift County’s varsity softball team might have been more pumped up than usual Monday, Sept. 19 in an 18-3 victory against Northside of Warner Robins.

The contest had initially been scheduled for Sept. 15 in Tifton, but Northside had transportation problems and asked to postpone until Monday. After canceling a game against Coffee to accommodate, Northside called again Monday afternoon to inform Tift it still had transportation issues. Knowing that the Region 1-6A game had to be played, Lady Devils head coach Taylor Barber decided to make it work however he could.

If Northside was not coming to Tift, Tift was going to Warner Robins. With only a few minutes’ notice, he got a bus and packed up the team. The result? A road trip that took longer than the game: “52 minutes,” said Barber of how long the three-inning blowout took to complete.

“They played with their hair on fire,” he said. Barber said he knows that not just the players but also their parents were upset about not getting the home game.

It was an explosion of offense at Northside. Five runs in the 1st inning, 10 more in the 2nd. Northside scored three times in the 3rd, but Tift — playing as the home team — walked off the victory with three more in the bottom half. They crushed 22 hits on the day, with the first five spots in the order going 16 of 17.

Gracee Wood made her first pitching performance of the season and struck out the side in the 1st.

Within five minutes, the Lady Devils had the lead.

Ella Bruce walked to lead off the frame, then Loralee Bennett homered to left field. “She hammered it,” Barber said.

Bailee Williams singled, Wood doubled and Macy Hand singled. They were ahead 4-0 before Northside got its first out. Angie Martinez made it 5-0 by singling in Delanie Jewell.

The Lady Devils batted around in the 1st. They also did in the 2nd.

Jewell drove in Williams for a 6-0 game. The Lady Eagles recorded their second out, but it was a long time before the third one. In between, nine more runs crossed the plate.

Kensie Law doubled in Hand and Jewell. After Abby Henderson knocked in Breanna Hernandez, Ella Bruce tripled in two runs. Bennett drove in one in the 2nd, Wood doubled in two before Hand’s two-bagger brought home Wood.

Northside staved off the mercy rule with three in the top of the 3rd, but Tift wasn’t going to give them a chance to score in the 4th. The Lady Devils were well on their way to batting around again when the game was called. Five players had already hit, three scoring.

Bennett had the walk-off hit, an RBI of Bruce. It was Bennett’s fourth hit and fourth RBI of the game.

Every Tift player who had an at-bat Monday had a base hit. Bennett led the way, with Williams, Wood and Hand recording three hits each. Wood and Law drove in three runs apiece.

Barber thinks the fire for this contest began burning with the initial postponement. He said they had their best practice yet last Thursday and the momentum carried over. He hopes he can keep it for Sept. 21st’s non-region game with Cairo and a region doubleheader at Veterans the next day.