There has been much more fast-pitch softball played this past week.
And for the now 11-6. 1-1 Indianola Academy Lady Colonels, their efforts are paying dividends.
While turning in a second place tournament finish last Saturday, in their most recent action the IA girls split their two District 1AAA games played.
For while Tuesday the IA squad earned an 11-1 victory over visiting Kirk Academy of Grenada, this win came on the heels of Monday’s 5-3 loss to visiting Lee Academy of Clarksdale.
Add five wins picked up in last Saturday’s tournament hosted by IA, and Coach Patrick Davis’ squad has turned in a productive week of play.
As for their upcoming action, this Saturday will take the IA squad to Deer Creek School in Arcola for additional tournament action.
The Lady Colonels’ first tournament game occurs at 10:30 a.m. versus Briarfield (LA) Academy while 1:30 p.m. takes them back to the field to play Greenville St. Joseph High at 1:30 p.m. that day.
However, next Monday brings another critical district matchup when defending district champion Bayou Academy of Cleveland comes to town for a 6:30 p.m. contest.
One day later, the Lady Colonels take a trip to Batesville for another district outing against North Delta School. First pitch of this game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
In other action during last Saturday’s tournament play, there was a large crowd estimated to be over 600 people on hand at Chism Park when Indianola Academy hosted a 16 team tournament.
And when almost 14 hours of softball action finally came to a close, a second place finish was earned by the Lady Colonels as they saw their bid to capture six wins in one day fall just short.
When all was said and done, the Lady Colonels closed out the tournament with a 3-2 championship game loss to Marshall Academy of Holly Springs; the Lady Patriots came into the tournament as the defending AA State champions and are making their case for a repeat performance.
After spotting the Lady Patriots a 3-0 lead after two innings of play, the IA squad rallied back in the fourth frame with two runs. This rally began after a walk and an error plated Jill Roberts with their initial run of the contest. Two batters later, the deficit was further narrowed by an RBI single from Lily Putnam, a right-center field hit which drove Mallory Price across the plate.
However, this would be all the Lady Colonels could manage as the game-tying run died at third base in the final inning of the game.
Leading IA’s three hit offensive attack in this championship game contest was Mary Linton Davis, as the senior drilled a double and a single against Marshall Academy’s hard-throwing southpaw.
Meanwhile, Roberts came to the pitcher’s circle in relief and turned in a three inning, four strikeout performance which allowed only one hit and zero runs.
The Lady Colonels reached this championship game with tournament victories over Carroll Academy (12-0), Kirk Academy of Grenada (7-1), North Delta School of Batesville (8-0), Sharkey-Issaquena Academy of Rolling Fork (15-0), and Deer Creek School of Arcola (5-4).
Pitching was once again superb for IA as Katie Ann Page and Roberts continued to throw a multitude of strikes and received enough defensive support to keep opponent’s bats at bay.
Highlighting the pair’s pitching efforts was a no-hit performance by Page over North Delta School while these pitchers would spin a one-hitter apiece against Carroll Academy and Sharkey-Issaquena Academy.
At the plate in this tournament, the Lady Colonels were led by Roberts (9 for 11 with a two run home run, three doubles, 6 RBI’s)) and Putnam (8 for 14 with a double and a triple).
Other players drilling extra base hits were Mary Grace Beckham (a triple among 5 hits, 7 RBI’s), Price (triple, double), and Anna Grace Rowland (double).
