Staff Reports

ROCHELLE- The Wilcox County High School softball team had another busy week with three games in three days this week. They finished with two wins and one loss on the week in region games against Charlton County, Telfair County and Irwin County.

Lady Patriots 6, Charlton County 3

Wilcox fell behind early in Tuesday’s game in Folkston after an RBI from Lauran Allbritton gave Charlton a 1-0 lead, but the Lady Patriots took their first lead of the game in the top of the third inning.

JaMerical Marshall started the frame off with an infield hit and Lexie Anderson moved her up to second base with a sacrifice bunt. A groundout from Mackenzie White moved Marshall up to third base and she subsequently scored on a passed ball to tie the score at 1-1. Chastity Stephens drew a two-out walk shortly after, and Wilcox then loaded the bases with consecutive hits from Anna Tripp and Carlee Walls. Grace Keene followed with a ground ball that led to a Charlton County error, which allowed Stephens to score for a 2-1 Patriot lead entering the bottom of the third.

The Lady Patriots extended the lead to 4-1 with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Stephens led off with a walk, and back-to-back errors from Charlton County allowed Tripp and Walls to load up the bases. Keene then provided the big hit with a two-run double to send Stephens and Tripp home.

Charlton cut the Wilcox lead down to 4-3 in the bottom half of the fifth on a two-run home run from Allbritton, but that was as close as Charlton got, as the Lady Patriots added on two runs in the top of the seventh and held on for the win.

Walls hit a one-out double in the top of the seventh to immediately give Wilcox a run scoring opportunity. Keene next reached base on an error and Maci Martin was hit by a pitch to load up the bases. Marshall followed with a two-RBI double to left field to make the score 6-3 in favor of Wilcox. Stephens then pitched a three up, three down bottom of the seventh to finish the game off for a Lady Patriot region win.

Keene picked up the win for Wilcox after pitching five and a third innings with three runs on five hits and one strikeout. Stephens came in to get the final five outs and picked up the save.

Walls and Marshall led the team in hits with two apiece. Marshall and Keene each had two RBIs in the game.

Telfair County 2, Lady Patriots 1

Wednesday’s game at Telfair County featured a pitchers’ duel with Stephens in the circle for Wilcox County and Bailey Spires pitching for the Lady Trojans.

Both pitchers put up scoreless efforts up until the bottom of the fifth inning when Telfair County took a 1-0 lead after a Wilcox County error.

The score remained at 1-0 until the Lady Patriots got on the board in the top of the seventh to extend the game.

Tripp was at first base with one out in the frame and Walls came up with a base hit to left to put Patriot runners at first and second base. After a pop up for the second out of the inning, Marshall came up with a clutch RBI single to tie the score at 1-1.

The Lady Trojans came away with the 2-1 win in the bottom half of the seventh after a walk-off RBI hit from DeeAurah Bradshaw.

Stephens again put in a strong pitching performance, finishing with six and two thirds innings pitched, with two unearned runs allowed on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Walls, Marshall and Stephens all had two hits, while Martin had the other Wilcox hit in the game.

Lady Patriots 7, Irwin County 3

The final game of the week for the Lady Patriots was a home game against Irwin County on Thursday afternoon. Wilcox got good pitching performances from Jalynn Keene and Grace Keene, while scoring in every inning except the fifth on their way to a 7-3 win.

Stephens led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to deep center field for the first score of the game and a sacrifice fly from Anderson scored Martin in the bottom of the second for a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, Tripp led off with a single and Walls followed up with a double to give Wilcox runners at second and third. Grace Keene hit a sacrifice fly in the next at bat and both of the runners were able to make it home for a 4-0 Lady Patriot lead.

Irwin County pulled a couple of runs back in the top of the fourth inning, but the Lady Patriots continued their scoring in the bottom half to remain in control.

Stephens and Kaitlyn Harvey drew consecutive one out walks and both moved up a base after a productive groundout from Tripp. Walls then hit a two-RBI single to left field to score the runners for a 6-2 lead.

Irwin scored their final run of the game in the top of the sixth to cut the Wilcox lead in half, but an Irwin County error on a fly ball from Grace Keene allowed Stephens to score to restore the four run lead at 7-3.

Irwin loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning, but Grace Keene got the last two outs to escape the trouble and finish the game off for a Lady Patriot victory.

Jalynn Keene pitched three and one third innings, conceding two unearned runs on a hit and one walk, with five strikeouts. Grace Keene pitched the final three and two thirds innings, allowing an unearned run on four walks and two hits. The two pitchers each struck out five Irwin batters in the contest.

Walls was the offensive leader for Wilcox County in the game with two hits and two RBIs. Grace Keene also finished with two RBIs, and Stephens scored three runs.

The Lady Patriots now have a record of 8-12 on the season, having won four out of their last five games. They are scheduled to play two games next week, Monday versus Lanier County (12-7) in Rochelle at 5 p.m., and Tuesday at Echols County (10-5) at 5:30 p.m.

All stats were provided by Wilcox County softball’s GameChanger account.