By By Matthew Nascone
The Escambia Academy Lady Cougars and the Northview Lady Chiefs softball teams clashed in a border war Feb. 28. The Lady Cougars traveled home to Canoe as winners of a hard-fought 2-0 game.
"It is always good to open the season with a win," EA head coach Darrell Jackson said. "Our pitching was outstanding and we were able to keep Northview off balance."
The Lady Chiefs (3-1) were held to two hits, one in the first inning and one in the seventh inning. EA pitcher Stacey Gibbs (1-0) pitched the complete game shutout, striking out seven Lady Cougars and walking only one.
"Only three runners reached base against Stacey and she was outstanding all day," Jackson said.
The Chiefs' Caitlyn Spence (3-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on six hits. She struck out four and walked one.
The defense was the name of the game for EA, Jackson said.
"Our defensive effort was perfect and they executed all day," he said. "And that makes the victory even sweeter."
But the Lady Cougars got the hits when they needed them and scored one run in the fifth and one run in the fifth.
Jackson said the girls looked nervous in the early innings, but as the game moved along the tension was eased.
"Our girls were extremely nervous because Northview is always a good team, but we made plays when we needed to and got the win," Jackson said. "I believe the whole tempo of the game changed after we scored a run."
That run was in the third off the bat of Lori Bonds. Bonds drove in the first run of the game and she finished the game 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Ashley Smith was also 2-for-3 at the plate and Katie Smith was 1-for-1 with a triple, a walk and two runs scored.
Jackson said the competition was great and he was glad his team was able to grab the win.
"This was a good team win as the girls did everything necessary to win," he said. "I would love to play Northview again because they are a good bunch of girls."
The Lady Cougars traveled to Butler Friday for the Patrician Tournament. Their opening game was against Kingwood Academy and Jackson said the rest of the competition in the tournament would be tough.
NHS was on the road as well on Friday to face South Walton in their second district game of the year.
The results from this tournament will be in Wednesday's Advance.
EA will square off with Fort Dale tomorrow and NHS plays Uriah tomorrow.
The tables turned in the JV battle as the Lady Chiefs defeated EA 11-6.
"We made a lot of mental errors and we didn't get off to a good start defensively," EA head coach Keri Payne said.
Of the 11 runs scored by the Lady Chiefs only five were earned.
EA made a run at the end of the game, but it was too little too late and Payne had some encouraging words for her girls.
"I told them this was a learning experience and we will work on some things and move forward as a team," she said.
The EA JV squad's only other games of the season will be a double header against Carver on March 10.