By By Lori Dann
Advance Managing Editor
The Escambia Academy Lady Cougars cruised through the first four rounds of the Edgewood Academy Fast-Pitch Softball Invitational Tournament Satirday before meeting up with the host team in the championship game.
Unfortunately, that's where the wins ended as Edgewood posted a 4-3 win over EA to take the tournament title. The Lady Cougars brought home the runner-up trophy.
The following is a summary of EA's five tournament games.
EA 8, Kingwood 2
The Lady Cougars erupted for four runs in the sixth inning to break open a close game and pull away for an 8-2 victory.
Jenifer Dykes put EA on top early with a home run which highlighted a two-run first inning. Jennifer Lassiter added a double during a two-run second to make it a 4-1 game.
After Kingwood closed to 4-2, EA got a pair of singles by Jennifer Barnett and Krystal Hall on its way to a four-run rally in the sixth.
Lassiter went the distance on the mound, striking out nine batters to earn the win.
Offensive leaders included Dykes, who was 1-for-3 with a home run; Hall, 1-for-4 with three RBI and a run; Lassiter, 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run; Barnett, 1-for-2 with a run; Amy Ridgeway with an RBI and a run; Anna Parish with two runs; and Rachel Pipkin with one run.
EA 15, Lee-Scott 4
A seven-run explosion in the first inning helped the Lady Cougars cruise to a 15-4 win over Lee-Scott Academy.
Hall had a double and a single in the inning, while Jennifer Martin and Heather James also had big hits. EA added three more runs in the second inning, keyed by Julie Corman's double, and then plated five more in the fourth on a Pipkin homer, a triple by Dykes, a double by Barnett and singles by Hall and Ridgeway.
For the game, Hall was 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs; Corman was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs; Pipkin was 1-for-1 with three RBI and two runs; Dykes was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs; Martin was 1-for-1 with an RBI and two runs; Ridgeway was 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs; James was 1-for-1 with an RBI; and Barnett was 1-for-2 with two runs.
Lassiter was the winning pitcher with six strikeouts.
EA 11, Pike Liberal Arts 2
EA posted another easy win, scoring two runs in each of the first two innins and adding five more in the fourth in an 11-2 victory over Pike Liberal Arts.
Dykes and Corman had back-to-back doubles to key the fourth-run scoring binge.
Offensive leaders for the game were Dykes, who was 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs; Ridgeway, 3-for-4 with a double and three runs; Barnett, 2-for-4 with an RBI; Lassiter, 2-for-4 with two runs; Corman, 1-for-2 with a double, two RBI and a run; Shelby Hester, 1-for-1 with an RBI; Hall, 1-for-2 with a run; Martin, 1-for-2; and Pipkin, one run scored.
Lassiter again collected the win, fanning six batters in her complete-game performance.
EA 6, Lowndes 1
After four scoreless innings, EA broke the tie with one run in the fifth and five in the sixth to capture a 6-1 win over Lowndes Academy.
Dykes went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored to pace the offense while Lassiter was 2-for-4 with a run. Other standouts were Ridgeway, who was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run; Pipkin, 1-for-2 with a double and a run; and Hall, Corman and Barnett, all 1-for-3.
Lassiter had a strong outing on the mound, striking out 10 batters and surredering the only run in the final inning.
Edgewood 4, EA 3
EA took an early 2-0 lead in the tournament championship game but saw Edgewood rally for three runs in the third and one in the fourth to go up 4-2. The Lady Cougars had their chances to take the lead late, but could manage to get just one run in the sixth as the host team held on to win the tournament.
Hall and Dykes were both 2-for-3 with one run in the game for the Lady Cougars. Ridgeway was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run, and Martin was 1-for-3 with an RBI to round out the top offensive players for EA.
Lassiter pitched the entire game, striking out six batters.
Also last week, EA swept a doubleheader against Pike Liberal Arts, winning the first game 8-1 and the second game 3-0.
In the first game, Dykes went 3-for-3 with three RBI and Lassiter was 3-for-5 with two runs. Also collecting hits were Hall, who was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run; Ridgeway, 2-for-3 with two runs; Pipkin, 2-for-4; Barnet, 1-for-3 with an RBI; and Martin, 1-for-3.
In the second game, Ridgeway was 2-for-3 with a run, while Hall, Corman and Martin also added two hits each. Shelby Moore was 1-for-3 with a run, Dykes was 1-for-4 with a run and Barnett and Lassiter each had one hit.
Lassiter was the winning pitcher in both games, striking out three in game one and nine in game two.
EA will travel to Jay on Friday before taking next week off for spring break. The Lady Cougars will then host Jay on Monday, April 3.