Last week, the BMS Lady Braves had their first three regular season scheduled games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols and a rain cancellation. On Monday, the Lady Braves finally had the opportunity to play their first softball game of the 2021 season against the Lincoln Lady Wildcats in Shinnston.

 

The Lady Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Kyleigh Anderson started the game with a lead off single and a steal of second base. She came around to score on a single by Renzy Pethtel and an infield error.         

 

Addie Gregory singled to right center field that scored Pethtel and Gregory went to third on two Lady Wildcat errors on the play. Sadie Hamrick then flew out to right field and Gregory scored on the sacrifice fly.

 

The second inning saw BMS extend its lead. Brittany Kennedy started the inning with a walk. Anderson followed with a double that scored Kennedy. Anderson advanced to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Gregory walked and stole second. Hamrick singled and that brought Anderson and Gregory home. Kylie Brooks, the BMS starting pitcher, doubled and sent Hamrick to third. Alyson Clifton followed with a single that plated both Hamrick and Brooks. In the middle of the second, Bridgeport was up 8-0.

 

The top of the third saw Kennedy single to start the frame. She advanced to second on an infield ground out and a steal of third. Pethtel  walked and was caught stealing second, and on the the play Kennedy scored. After two and one-half innings BMS had a 9-0.

 

Brooks held LMS scoreless in the first two innings. In the bottom of the third, Rylee Robey walked and moved to second single by Hayden Watson. Adrianna Elder, the Lincoln starting pitcher, helped her cause with a single to score Robey and cut the BMS lead to 9-1.

 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Wildcats loaded the bases with three consecutive walks after one out. Hayden Watson then hit an inside-the-park grand slam home run to make the score 9-5. Elder followed with a single and moved to third on two BMS errors. She came around to score on infield ground out by Addison Moore to make the score 9-6 in favor of BMS.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, Kale Bennett reached on a BMS throwing error. Haleigh Gump singled and Chloe Zimmerman walked to load the bases. Jaelin Sayers walked to force in a run. One out later, Watson singled to score Gump. Elder followed with a single that saw Zimmerman and Sayers cross the plate and Watson advanced to third. Moore hit a single that scored Watson. The score was now 11-9 in favor of the Lady Wildcats.

 

At that point, BMS made a pitching change and brought Anderson in as the new pitcher. Kloee Thacker greeted Anderson with an RBI double that plated Elder and gave LMS a 12-9 advantage.Anderson completed the rest of the inning without any further scoring damage.

 

In the top of the sixth, Hamrick singled with two outs.  She then stole second and came around to score on two wild pitches. The scoreboard now read LMS 12 and BMS 10.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, LMS added an insurance run  to make the score 13-10.

 

BMS was retired in order in the top of the seventh and made the final score 13-10 in favor of LMS. The Lady Braves season record fell to 0-1.

 

Brooks was tagged with the loss for the Lady Braves and her season record is now 0-1. Her pitching line read 4 1/3 innings, 12 runs, 9 hits, 8 strikeouts, and 8 walks. Anderson’s line read 1 2/3 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts, and 3 walks.