With one swing of the bat, Ensley Barnes sent the Lady Greyhounds home as winners on Monday night.
With one runner aboard in the bottom of the seventh, Barnes blasted a homer above the left-field wall to give Jones County a 5-3 win that came after the visiting Warhawks steadily rallied to tie the score at 3-3 in the top of the sixth. Up to that point, Veterans had held JCHS scoreless since the end of the second inning.
“I was really just trying to put something in play,” Barnes said. “It’s really big for us to show how much support we have for each other on this team.”
Barnes’ big hit came after Myah Briscoe, who had three hits on Monday, singled, setting the stage for the JCHS first baseman’s late-inning howitzer.
“That’s a really good team. They were third in the classification above us last year,” Lady Greyhounds head coach Tripp Burt said. “We did a real good job of coming out and being resilient, battling offensively and defensively and having good at-bats.”
The Lady Greyhounds led early, stretching a two-run lead after an inning to go up 3-0 on a Marissa Moore single to plate Sydney Hawkins.
But Veterans, which finished third in the state last year, served up a reminder of why.
Jones County freshman pitcher Makalyn Williams navigated the Warhawks lineup from the start, but the visitors got on the board in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk. Veterans was able to get runners aboard in the late innings on Monday, but Williams being able to force the Warhawks to strand a combined six runners in the final three innings ended up looming large in the final result. After Veterans tied the score in the sixth, for example, Williams retired the next two hitters to get out of the inning without further damage. The freshman gave up four hits over seven innings during Monday’s win.
“We have one freshman on the roster, and she grew up some,” Burt said. “She had to go out there and battle through some tough situations. Her teammates were able to pick her up and get a win.”
JCHS opened the season with a 10-4 win last Thursday at Mary Persons as Barnes, Williams, Hawkins, Genna Maki, Briscoe, Raylee Harris, Sarah Davis, and Moore each had two hits. Williams got the win in the pitcher’s circle, giving up four runs on eight hits.
The Lady Hounds open region play on Tuesday at Locust Grove.
