By By Tim Cottrell
Escambia Academy's Lady Cougars made the long trip to Camden a good one Monday afternoon by cruising to a 14-5 win over Wilcox Academy.
EA cruised to a 10-0 lead in two innings and rolled the rest of the way with reserves eating up the remaining innings.
Lady Cougar coach Darrell Jackson was happy to give his reserves the needed experience.
"It could have been a lot worse," Jackson said. "After we picked up that big lead we got a chance to play a lot of people and give people opportunities to do some different things."
One of those different opportunities was afforded to Jaime Drew, who came on in relief of winning pitcher Lori Bonds after she put in four innings of six strikeout ball.
"Jaime did a good job," Jackson said. "She kept the ball across the plate the whole time. We needed to get some other pitching reps in."
Meagan Jackson and Stacey Gibbs led the Lady Cougars on the day, each batting 2-for-4 and driving in one run. Gibbs also added a triple.
After facing Sparta Academy Tuesday, the Lady Cougars will travel to the Marengo Tournament over the weekend. Coach Jackson felt the tournament would be excellent preparation time for the AISA Elite 8 the following weekend.
"It'll be a good tune-up for state," Jackson said. "Thirteen teams will be there besides us. Two of them will be in the state tournament next week. We're not sure if we'll get to play either of them, because it's going to be split up into two round-robins, and the winner of each round-robin will face each other for the championship of the tournament.
"It doesn't really count for much in the scheme of things," Jackson continued. "But one team is there that has already beaten us this year and will be in the Elite 8. That would be Patrician. We'll play six or seven games over two days. It doesn't mean anything, but it's a good way to get ready for the next tournament."
The Lady Cougars celebrated Senior Day Tuesday in Canoe.