Fillies win 2023’s opening softball game

Published 3:00 pm Sunday, January 29, 2023

becky.taylor@gaflnews.com

TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Fillies split their first two games of the 2023 softball season Saturday, Jan. 28.

Hosting Florida State College at Jacksonville, ABAC won the first game, 6-0, but were felled 15-2 in the second.

Karis Smith and Madison Strickland combined to hold the Blue Wave to four hits in the opener. Smith pitched the first five frames.

The Fillies took a 1-0 lead in the 1st. Single runs followed in the 2nd and 5th before they put the result out of reach with a three-run 6th.

Ashtyn Braddy notched the initial run of 2023 in an unusual way. Leading off, Braddy struck out, but the ball popped far enough away for her to reach first base safely.

Graysen Brannen moved Braddy to second with a bunch before Caroline Barrett’s two-out single snaked under the gloves of both the first- and second baseman.

One inning later, it was Braddy in a position to drive in a run.

Courtney Cannon walked with one down and moved into scoring position when Abby Plymel’s short pop landed between the circle and second. Braddy picked up the RBI on a double to center.

The 2-0 lead held for the next two innings.

Smith saw a runner reach scoring position in every inning she worked, but ABAC’s defense was lights out. Infield grounders were the third outs four times.

In the 5th, Laney McGee drew big cheers when she went to her knees to stop a shar grounder to third base. A strong throw nicked Bailey Studt by a step.

The bottom half of that frame saw the Fillies add a bit of insurance.

Braddy led off with a single and stole second, then Barrett came through yet again with a double. Caroline Pollock followed with a single, but it was of the infield variety and not enough for Barrett to advance beyond third.

Strickland pitched around an error in the 6th, finishing with a strikeout. FSC-J had a 7th inning single but no damage came of it.

In between, the Fillies struck for three more runs.

Paige Hill’s first collegiate hit started the rally. Hill, a former Tift County Lady Devil, poked a soft spinner that perhaps rolled two feet in front of the plate, but the Blue Wave did not attempt a play.

Hill slid into third on Plymel’s double, but was tagged out at home when she went on contact during Strickland’s at-bat.

Braddy singled in Plymel and then a strange sequence led to more runs.

Brannen was initially tagged out by a hustling first baseman on an infield roller. However, ABAC head coach Jen Walls called time to speak with an official about something she had noticed. The appeal saw the Blue Wave charged with an illegal pitch and Brannen essentially get a do-over in the box.

Gifted the second chance, Brannen put the ball in play and FSC-J mishandled it for two runs, bringing the score to 6-0.

Braddy finished with three hits and two RBIs. Plymel had two hits. Of the Blue Wave’s four hits, three belonged to Harley Guynn.

BLUE WAVE 15, ABAC 2

The hosts’ luck reversed in the second game, with Florida State-Jacksonville winning 15-2 in four innings.

The Blue Wave scored six runs in the 1st, followed by five in the 3rd and four in the 4th.

ABAC’s tallies were in the 1st.

Pollock, Smith, Plymel and McGee had the Fillies’ hits, according to official stats on Gamechanger. Braddy and Brannen scored the runs.

The Fillies were to travel Jan. 31 for a doubleheader against Thomas University’s junior varsity. On Feb. 3, they host Enterprise State’s Lady Boll Weevils (Ala.) in a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m.