By By Matthew Nascone
This past weekend started off great for the Escambia Academy Lady Cougars softball team. They defeated Clarke Prep 7-3 on Friday at home.
"This was a big area win for us because they are a bigger school and we now have a good shot to finish first in the area," assistant head coach Keri Payne said.
Payne assumed head coaching duties for the Lady Cougars (10-6, 2-1 in Alabama Independent School Association Class 2A East Region play) when head coach Darrell Jackson had a work commitment he could not get away from. Head JV girl's basketball coach Larry Bonds assisted Payne during the game.
The Lady Cougars' fireballer Stacey Gibbs picked up the win for EA.
"Stacey pitched a great game for us and she kept us in the game," Payne said.
Gibbs (7-6) threw a complete game and allowed three runs on six hits. She struck out nine and walked one.
At the plate Jaime Drew was 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Allison Thomas went 2-for-3 and Courtney Smith was 1-for-2 with a walk, a triple and four RBI.
Smith came through in the fourth inning with a two-out, three-RBI triple to expand the Lady Cougars' lead from 2-1 to 5-1.
"She hit a shot to right center field and that really pumped our team up," Payne said. "They played great after that."
Payne said another key factor in the game was the reduction of the errors committed. She said the team usually makes four to five errors and in the Clarke Prep game they made only two errors in the field.
The old adage of quality over quantity played true in this game.
"We only got six hits, but they came at the right times in the game," Payne said. "The overall defensive effort was great."
The Lady Cougars faced Clarke Prep again Tuesday and the results will be in the Advance. Their next game is tomorrow against Monroe in Canoe at 3:30 p.m.