Squeeze bunt puts Lady Tigers over Brookwood
Demopolis snapped a four-game losing streak in dramatic fashion Tuesday when Anna Caroline Logan dropped down a squeeze bunt that allowed Nicole Wilkinson to score the walk-off run. The seventh-inning sequence capped a 4-3 Demopolis win against Brookwood.
“That was definitely a step in the right direction. We’re taking baby steps, but we had some grow up tonight,” Demopolis coach Joey Browder said. “Just being able to finish. That’s what we’ve been talking about all week after the weekend we had is being able to keep your head in the game and being able to finish. That was a total team effort and that’s the way we’ve got to play ball this year.”
The Lady Tigers started the definitive sequence when freshman Julia Veres led off the inning with a single. Wilkinson came in as a pinch runner and advanced to second base on a passed ball.
Baleigh Grace, one of the team’s only two seniors, stroked her second hit of the game to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Logan, a sophomore, followed with the bunt single that scooted just between the Brookwood pitcher and third baseman, allowing Wilkinson to slide into home with the game-winning run.
Brookwood forced the late heroics in the top of the seventh when it loaded the bases with two outs in front of a Taylor Parker three-RBI triple that scored Ashley Hagood, Brighlyn Rowland and Morgan Gaither to tie the game at three.
Demopolis broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a three-run rally of its own. Jessica Adams walked, stole second and scored on an Abbey Latham single. Courtney Smith reached first on a bunt single ahead of the Latham hit and both runners came around to score on a two-RBI single by Baleigh Grace to put Demopolis up 3-0.
“She has come leaps and bounds. She bought into what we’re doing completely and she is doing a great job,” Browder said of Grace’s development as a player.
Hanna Malone worked five strong innings for the Lady Tigers, scattering three hits while walking none and striking out one.
“We got five strong out of Hanna. She went five strong in the circle and we look for her to keep getting stronger all year,” Browder said.
Malone gave way to Kendall Hannah in the sixth. The eighth-grade reliever picked up the win in the contest.
The Lady Tigers are set to host Bibb County Friday before going into tournament play this weekend at Brookwood.