FULTON – The Copiah-Lincoln Lady Wolves softball team battled with Itawamba in their season opening doubleheader Tuesday afternoon in Fulton. Co-Lin had no trouble hitting the ball, but had their share of fielding issues in the Itawamba sweep.

Itawamba 8, Co-Lin 7 (8 innings) 

Freshman catcher Jessica Crum was outstanding in her debut for Co-Lin. The Dutchtown (La.) High School product finished with six RBIs after hitting a double and homerun.

Co-Lin freshman pitcher Lucy Lewis gave up seven earned runs on 12 hits.

Tied at 3-3 after the 7th inning, the game went into extra innings. Co-Lin grabbed a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th behind Crum’s 3-run homerun and an RBI single by Brooke Laigast.

Itawamba capped their rally in the bottom half of the inning with a walk-off single by Courtney Roberts.

“You can’t give a team like Itawamba (defending North Division champs) the kind of opportunities that we did,” said Lady Wolves head coach Allen Kent.

Itawamba 10, Co-Lin 7 

Game two was more of the same as the Lady Wolves offense had no trouble producing runs, but the defense was less than stellar. The top of the first saw Co-Lin take an early 2-0 lead. A single by Brittany Barbay scored Carmen Perry. That was followed by Payton Sheffield scoring Jessica Crum on an RBI double. Freshman Greta Carley went 2-for-4 at the plate and hit a single and a triple for the Lady Wolves. Sophomore Rheagan Welch took the loss for Co-Lin, giving up nine earned runs in six innings of work.

Kent believes that a mixture of freshmen playing their first college game, on the road, and on a very cold day, was a recipe for his team to kick the ball around in the field. It’s something the longtime Lady Wolves leader knows his team will grow out of.

“Our defense let us down, we probably had five errors in game one alone. We’re going to get better. We scored enough runs to win, we need to improve on defense and in the pitching game,” said Kent.

The Lady Wolves (0-2) make their home debut on Friday, February 6 when they host the Mississippi Delta Lady Trojans in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. in Wesson.