The Bogue Chitto Lady Bobcats fell 8-5 to the Lawrence County Lady Cougars Monday night.

Lawrence County jumped out in front early in the game and added onto their lead in the fifth inning. Bogue Chitto attempted to rally in their half of the inning, but the three insurance runs the Lady Cougars added in the sixth and seventh were the deciding factor.

“We had a pretty good night,” said new Lady Cougars coach Marc Howard. “We got off to a shaky start but it’s early in the season. We’re trying to work on our batting and get our timing down, but I think we hit the ball well.”

Howard bragged on his foes, saying the Lady Bobcats are an improved team and he thinks “they’ll make some noise” in Region 7-2A.

“They hit the ball well tonight, as I expected them to, and played good defense,” he said. “The game was a little low-scoring from both schools’ standards but I think both schools were happy with the performances.”

The Lady Cougars were the first on the board, as Skyler Speights nailed a two-out homerun over the left field fence. Bogue Chitto limited the damage to end the inning.

The Lady Bobcats attempted to tie up the game in the bottom of the first, with Julianna Frazier hitting a double into right field. The Lady Cougars stranded Frazier on a line-drive out to short. The score remained 1-0 in Lawrence County’s favor heading into the third.

The Lady Cougars added onto their lead in the third, bringing one run in off a fielder’s choice RBI by Abbie Errington.

Heading into the fifth inning, Lawrence County was up 2-0. The Lady Cougars added three more.

With two outs, Speights added to her RBI total when she hit a two-run double into center field. Sydney Pevey scored one run off her single into center field. Bogue Chitto was able to stop the bleeding, as they were able to get the next batter out.

The Lady Bobcats finally made it onto the scoreboard as they rallied for three runs in their half of the fifth.

With two outs, Baileigh Jackson came up big for the Lady Bobcats when she blasted a three-run homerun over the left field fence.

Lawrence County added another run in the top of the sixth off an RBI single into left field by Julianna Johnson, and finished the scoring in the seventh inning when Lily Stephens drove in a run on an RBI double into left center. Ashley Holden followed with an RBI single.

The Lady Bobcats attempted one more rally in the bottom of the seventh, driving in two runs. With two outs, Jackson drove in both runs off a two-run RBI double.

The Lady Cougars held out and picked up an 8-5 victory.

Molly Davis picked up the win for the Lady Cougars.

Stevie Montgomery took the setback for the Lady Bobcats.

“Stevie did a good job pitching for us,” said new Lady Bobcats coach Kris Smith. “At times, she lost her focus and walked some batters but, overall, she did a great job. I believe we can get better at hitting. We just need to have more patience at the plate and have a better pitch selection. There’s a couple of things we need to work out on defense but, overall, the defense played good.”

Lawrence County was led by Speights with a homerun, double, single and three RBIs. Greacie Hartzog hit two singles. Alyssa Lambert had a double. Johnson had two singles and an RBI. Errington had a single and an RBI. Lily Stephens had a double and an RBI. Holden had a single and an RBI. Pevey had a double and an RBI.

Jackson led the Lady Bobcats with a homerun, double and five RBIs. Karly Leake hit a double and a single. Alice Nettles had a double and a single. Julianna Bartman finished the hitting for the Lady Cats with a single.

Story by Dave Linton.