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By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal
The Central High School Lady Lions won two games in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s 2A South Central Regional Softball Qualifier in Troy before bowing out to Horseshoe Bend.
Central played on Friday and Saturday at the Troy Sportsplex.
The Lady Lions defeated Randolph County 6-5 in round one of the winners’ bracket on Friday for the right to face Zion Chapel, which took 14 innings to defeat Prattville Christian 7-5.
Unfortunately Zion Chapel defeated Central 6-4 in the second round of the winners’ bracket Friday night to drop the Lady Lions into the losers’ bracket.
Central head softball coach Elizabeth Mallard felt the game with Zion Chapel was started too late to complete. That game, she said, was called in the fifth inning.
On Saturday, Central faced Reeltown in round two of the losers’ bracket, which had defeated Luverne 20-5 in round one of the losers’ bracket.
The Lady Lions, however, took down Reeltown 5-3 to face Horseshoe Bend, which defeated Prattville Christian 5-0 in round 2 of the losers’ bracket.
That setup a battled with Horseshoe Bend, which the Lady Lions lost 5-3 in round three of the losers’ bracket to end their season on Saturday.
Mallard said she felt she had a team good enough to make it all the way to the state championship playoff, but said a late game put a damper on her team, which had to back games.
Mallard gave what she called a “shout out” to her seniors and two juniors for their play this season.
Among the seniors she wanted to recognize were Kendreuna (Pie) McPherson, a pitcher and first baseman; Tierra (T) Surles, a right fielder; and Fantavia (Fan) Brown, a center fielder. She also gave a shout out to juniors Delondria (Dee) Mallard, pitcher and first baseman/shortstop; and La’ Brittany McCall, a catcher.
“Overall we had a pretty good season,” Mallard said of her team, “But most of all, we pretty much kind of struggled at the bat.”
However, she said, “The season itself was pretty good… jut have got some kinks we need to work out.”
Mallard said, “I felt like we had the team to make it to the state, but when we got down there, they just didn’t perform the way we should have. So, our bats were struggling.”
She said, however, “If our defense had been on, we would have made it through.”
Mallard said playing back-to-back games and playing a really late game hurt her team. She said her team was battling, but game officials ended the late game with Zion on Friday night in the fifth inning.
According to Mallard the Lady Lions were 20-6 going into regional play, which would give them an overall record of 22-8 on the season.
This is the Lady Lions’ third year in “school softball.”