Little Cypress-Mauriceville was able to make a few more plays than Livingston softball Wednesday night, defeating the Lady Lions 3-1 on the campus of Lamar University.
A tight game throughout, all pitchers involved performed well in the circle, making it difficult on hitters.
A walk, then triple by Lady Bear Ella Stephenson in the bottom of the second inning put LC-M on the board first at 1-0.
In the top of the third, Taylor Wright and Brianna Nelson walked, and Shelby Dickerson sacrificed both into scoring position. Corinne Henderson took a base on balls to load the bags. A wild pitch allowed Wright to cross home, tying the contest at 1-1.
Though she had not surrendered a hit, LC-M starting pitcher Stephenson was moved to first base, as Tessa Erickson took over. Stephenson had walked multiple batters in her three innings of work, allowing the one run. Jacie David would finally get Livingston into the hit column in the fourth.
In the fifth, the bases were loaded on two singles and a walk with two outs. Kinsley Doucet lifted a pop up to center field that fell out of a glove, scoring two. The Lady Lion defense had difficulties on multiple occasions under windy conditions.
“The wind has a little bit of a factor on the ball going out,” Livingston coach Heather Mosser said. “It is going to make it tricky, but that is the game and we have to play the game. No matter what ball is put in play, it is our defense's job to step up and make the play.”
Brooke Anderson battled for six innings. She worked her way in and out of traffic, but was one of the star performers Wednesday.
“Pitching started off a little bit slow for us tonight, but Anderson did a great job staying composed and just working her way back through,” Mosser said. “She threw a lot of pitches tonight, but she was also very successful. The balls that they did hit that they scored on were not good hits. We just took our eye off the ball. That was just one of the things we didn’t execute tonight.”
Weather has caused delays in games slated for Friday in Cleveland. They have instead been moved to Saturday in Jasper, with first pitch scheduled for noon.
“Both of our teams can step on the field, and we can go pitch-for-pitch and hit-for-hit or play-for-play. The team with the most heart and hustle is going to walk away a winner. We just didn't have that tonight. I say that, because there were many opportunities for us to have those catches. They would have been spectacular catches, but that is what takes teams to the next level. I think we are fully capable of making those plays.
“I know that we can be successful against both of their pitchers, because that is all that they have. I feel fully confident that we can go and take two games from them.”
