LADY HOUNDS SOFTBALL
The Lady Greyhounds earlyseason opponents have at least a common thread in that each of them figures to either contend for or make it to Columbus in October for a spot in the Elite Eight. There is no doubt for the Lady Hounds that, by facing teams of this caliber, they will grow more as a team than warming up to start a season by run-ruling lesser teams.
Facing that stout competition, Jones County fell in a trio of games last week, dropping games to Pike County, Houston County and Dodge County by scores of 5-2, 16-4 and 6-0.
“We try to fill our schedule early on with teams that’ll be in Columbus year in and year out; that way we can see what we need to have to get to that point,” Lady Greyhounds head coach Tripp Burt said. “You can see things and realize, ‘hey, we need to fix this before region play’ when it really counts.”
Allie Willis led JCHS at the plate in all three of those matchups, having at least a hit in each one. The game against Houston County last Wednesday didn’t begin as lopsided as it ended up. In fact, the matchup showed plenty of offensive resilience from the side of Jones County with a four-run inning to tie it 4-4 before things got away from Jones County in a 12-4 fourth inning.
Kimber Kent got that inning started, reaching on error before scoring on a passed ball before Tranasia Parker drew a walk and came in on a single by Willis. That led to the big hit of the inning, a two-run homer by Rylie Faulk.
“We just had one inning that unraveled on us,” Burt said of the fourth inning.
“Mistakes can happen, and a lot of them happened.”
One aspect of all three games for the Lady Hounds was also getting their pitchers a varied mixture of work. Ansley Pegg went the distance against Dodge County with Cate Downey getting a bulk of the work against Houston County, pitching three innings before Ensley Barnes and Pegg relieved her. Against Pike County, Pegg and Downey each pitched three innings.
“Early in the season, we try and give everybody looks and see who follows up who well and who compliments who,” Burt said. “We try to run them out there and see what we have.”
The Lady Hounds, who earlier this week opened region play at Locust Grove and played at ACE on Wednesday, play Thursday at Eagles Landing and host Ola next Tuesday.
