By By Lindsey Sherrill
Staff Writer
On Tuesday afternoon the Escambia Academy Softball and Baseball teams kicked started their seasons with home wins by both teams.
The Lady Cougar softball team, coached by Larry and Helen Lassiter, slaughtered the Sparta Academy girls in a 17-2, three inning victory. The Cougars were leading 6-2 at the bottom of the second inning. In this inning the Cougars would bat around twice and score ten runs. The Lady Cougars scored once more in the third inning before the game was called. Freshman Lori Bonds pitched two innings for the Cougars, allowing two runs. Stacey Gibbs, also a freshman, pitched one scoreless inning. Bonds and Mandi Norton had two RBI each, and Meagan Jackson, Elisabeth Hendrix, Shelby Moore, and Mallory Martin each had one RBI.
The baseball team also defeated Sparta on Tuesday as they topped the 1A team 7-5. The Cougars were helped by a strong pitching performance by Buckie Dawson, who pitched four shutout innings, and a strong offensive performance by J.R. Hall, who went three for four, including a two run homerun in the fifth inning.
Pitching stats for the game included Dawson's strong performance, which included four strikeouts. Jace Beasley came on to pitch in the fifth inning and went one and one third innings while allowing five runs, including a two run homerun. Josh Morgan finished the game, pitching two-thirds of an inning, allowing one walk and one hit, and striking out two.
Offensively, Hall led the team with three RBI and two runs scored. Bradford Price had one hit and walked twice, Josh Morgan had one hit and a walk, Steven Shirley hit a double and had one RBI and one run scored, Beasley had one hit and scored one run, Billy McCann had one hit and scored one run, Cody White had one hit and one run scored, and Matt Amerson had one hit and a walk. Morgan also had two stolen bases.