The Bogue Chitto Lady Bobcats withstood West Lincoln Lady Bears rally attempt Thursday night picking up a 5-3 victory.

The Bogue Chitto girls jumped out in front of the West Lincoln girls early. A three-run third inning, kept the Lady Bobcats in the lead. Lady Bears rallied in the fifth inning for two runs, closing up the gap. Needing one more rally in the seventh inning, to attempt to tie up the game, the West Lincoln girls were unable to complete the rally.

“Tonight, we stayed disciplined and didn’t chase the ball and it worked out for us.” said Lady Bobcats junior Baileigh Jackson.

The Bogue Chitto girls scored the first run of the game. Junior Karlye Leake led off with a double. With one out, freshman Juilanna Frazier brought Leake in on an RBI sacrifice fly. The West Lincoln girls managed to get out of the inning with a pop up.

The Lady Bears tied up the game in the top of the second. Junior Morgan Newman led off with a single. With one out, junior Maddox Redd singled. Looking at two outs, eight-grader Camryn Summerall tied up the game with an RBI single, before the Lady Bobcats were able to get out of the inning.

The Bogue Chitto girls reclaimed the lead in their half of the second. Junior Baileigh Jackson got things started with a double. With one out, seventh-grader Alyssa Leggett scored Jackson with an RBI sacrifice fly.

“I worked on getting ahead tonight and throwing in my changeup to throw them off and keep them on their toes,” said Lady Bobcats sophomore Codi Leggett. “For my home run, I stayed back and stayed disciplined and drove the ball where it needed to go.”

The Lady Bobcats pulled ahead of the Lady Bears in the final frame of the third, scoring three runs. With two outs, Frazier belted an RBI double. Sophomore Codi Leggett followed with hammering a two-run home run.

The West Lincoln girls attempted their first rally in their half of the fourth. Sophomore Bailey Wilson led off with a single. Newman followed with a single of her own. With one out, Redd hit a single. The Bogue Chitto girls snuffed out the rally getting the final two outs.

“We stayed very disciplined at the plate tonight,” said Lady Bobcats coach Scott Leggett. “We’ve been working on staying disciplined. The last few games, we’ve been swinging out of the zone. We had a different mindset tonight and stayed composed. We played good defensively against a good hitting West Lincoln team. We knew they were going to hit the ball in play and score some runs. We got the big hits when we needed them and Codi did a good job on the mound.”

The Lady Bears made another rally attempt in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs. Facing two outs, eight-grader Bailee Goodson reached safely on a single. Junior Adi Paden followed with a single. Wilson drove in the runs on a two-run RBI double, before the Lady Bobcats were able to get out of the inning.

Needing two runs to force the Lady Bobcats to have to bat again, the West Lincoln girls tried to come up with a seventh inning rally. Despite getting a runner on first base off of a walk, the Lady Bears were unable to move the runner as the Bogue Chitto girls got the final three outs.

The Lady Bobcats won the game by a final score of 5-3, keeping themselves set up for the playoffs.

I thought we played good,” said West Lincoln Lady Bears coach Andrew Redd. “We played clean. We just got out hit. We gave up those early hits, which were big hits. We did our job, we just didn’t do it good enough. I’m proud of these girls. They stuck with it all the way to the seventh inning and kept fighting. They never quit.”

Codi Leggett picked up the win for the Lady Bobcats, going all seven innings will allowing eight hits and three runs while picking up nine strike outs.

Adi Paden started on the mound for the Lady Bears while picking up one strike out. Eight-grader Averi Paden picked up three strike outs in relief work.

The Bogue Chitto Lady Bobcats, 11-6-1 overall, 2-3 in Region 7-2A, will take part in the Loyd Star softball tournament Saturday.

The West Lincoln Lady Bears will host Region 7-2A opponent Enterprise Lady Yellow Jackets Tuesday.

Story by Dave Linton