Lady Tigers wallop Dallas County in area opener
Demopolis (7-11-1, 1-0) had little trouble with Dallas County in its first area game of the season Thursday, winning 13-1 after five innings of play.
Demopolis hung three runs in the first inning but did not record its first hit of the game until the third when Elly Brown led off with a single.
Taylor Smith opened the scoring when she scored on a Brown RBI sacrifice fly in the first. Abbey Latham and Kendall Hannah also scored in the frame.
Demopolis saw nine of its first 18 batters draw walks and stole 11 bases in the contest. The big blow to Dallas County’s chances came in the third when the Lady Tigers hung 10 runs on the board.
Brown singled, stole second and scored on a wild pitch. Jade Montgomery reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and scored on a wild pitch to push the advantage to 5-1. Seventh grader Smith, a seventh grader, then tripled to score Anna Caroline Logan, Cameron Thomason and Jessica Adams, pushing the advantage to 8-1. Two batters later, Latham deposited the first pitch she saw over the left field fence for a three-run shot that extended the lead to 11-1.
“The first time through the lineup, the speed and the control was a little bit of an adjustment,” Demopolis coach Stephen Campbell said. “Taylor Smith had a bases-clearing triple and Abeey followed that up wit ha homer. That’s why she’s an Ole Miss commit.”
Brown singled again in her second at-bat of the inning before stealing second and scoring on a Hannah double. Logan followed with a single to plate Hannah and cap the Demopolis scoring.
Dallas County got its lone run on a throwing error in the second inning.
Hanna Malone opened the game in the circle, working two innings while allowing two hits and one unearned run. She struck out three batters, running her total for the week to 19 strikeouts over 14 innings pitched.
“Movement,” Campbell said of the key to Malone’s run of success. “The movement she’s putting on the ball and she is hitting her spots and she has been on point.”
Natalie Tatum followed with three innings of work that saw her allow one hits, plunk one batter and strike out three.
The Lady Tigers are set to play Dallas County in Plantersville at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
“We don’t want to worry about the name on the jersey,” Campbell said. “We want to play Demopolis softball.”