Because of heavy rains Saturday morning, the host Loyd Star LadyHornets pushed their games with the Mize Lady Bulldogs to lateSaturday afternoon and came away with two wins in the opening roundof the Class 2A fastpitch softball playoffs.

Loyd Star won the opener 3-0 behind a no-hit pitchingperformance by Brooke Delaughter (14-7). In the second game, theLady Hornets came back with 2 runs in the eighth inning for the 3-2victory.

Loyd Star will go on the road Thursday at a site to be announcedin the second round of the 2A state tournament.

“I’m proud of the girls,” said Loyd Star head coach JanDelaughter. “This is the first time we have gotten out of district.They were two very ugly wins. Our batting was not there. It has toimprove.”

Loyd Star 3, Mize 0

Powering the Loyd Star girls in the opener with 4 singles wasEmily Smith. Calleye Douglas singled twice. Hitting safely wereHaley Sones, Annie Smith and Ariel Hunsucker.

Brooke Delaughter fanned 12 batters and walked 1 in the firstgame and held Mize hitless.

Loyd Star outhit Mize 9-0.

Loyd Star 3, Mize 2

In the second game, the Lady Hornets went up 1-0 in the thirdinning and shut off the Lady Bulldogs for 3 more until the top ofthe seventh. Four Loyd Star errors allowed Mize to tie the game at1-1.

Mize scored 1 run in the the top of the eighth to go ahead2-1.

Under the International Tiebreaker rule, a runner was placed onsecond base. In the bottom of the eighth, Douglas went to second.Carrie Moak tripled to score Douglas. Lindsey Duckworth advanced tofirst on a throwing error and Moak scored the go-ahead run to endthe game.

At the plate, the Lady Hornets had 5 hits to the Lady Bulldogs’2.

Sones singled twice for Loyd Star. Moak added a single followedby Douglas with a single.

Delaughter dominated on the mound with another 12 strikeouts and1 walk.

St. Andrew’s 4, Loyd Star 3

In Thursday’s game, Loyd Star committed 4 errors to St. Andrew’s2. The mistakes allowed the hosts to score unearned runs andwin.

Absorbing the loss was Delaughter with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.Reliever Ariel Hunsucker fanned 3 batters in final inning.

Emily Smith tripled and singled twice for Loyd Star. Sonestripled and singled. Brittany Beeson singled.

For St. Andrew’s, Carolyn Womack doubled and singled. LindseyGraves struck out 7 batters and allowed 0 walks for the win.