By By Matthew Nascone
The Escambia County Lady Blue Devils were mercy-ruled in the first round of the Border War with the Northview Lady Chiefs on the softball diamond, but ECHS did not suffer the same fate on their home field Monday night.
"I don't think we were ready to play in the first meeting this year," ECHS head coach William Casaday said. "Our girls have gained some confidence since the last time we played Northview and they felt like they could win, and we did."
The Lady Chiefs (4-7) ended the first meeting 12-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning Feb. 19, but Monday's contest was a 10-8 victory for the Lady Blue Devils.
ECHS (3-2) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after the first inning, but the Lady Chiefs cut that lead to 4-2 in the top of the second inning. ECHS added one run in the bottom of the second for a 5-2 lead.
The Lady Chiefs made it a one-run game with two runs in the third inning, but the Lady Devils scored four in the bottom half of the third to push the lead to 9-4. NHS again cut into the lead with two runs in the fourth inning. ECHS scored one in the bottom of the fourth.
The Lady Chiefs scored one run in the fifth and sixth innings, but could not pull out the win.
"I thought we played a lot better game this time around," Casaday said. "Everybody played their guts out and everyone did their job."
Junior pitcher Raven Culliver (2-2) picked up the win on the mound, allowing eight runs and striking out three batters. She was also 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs scored.
Junior third baseman Ashleigh Taylor was 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Junior catcher Brooke Bell was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Juniors Courtney English and Latesha Lee and sophomores Michaela Norman and Jasmine Tolbert each scored one run.
Lady Devils 15 Hillcrest 0
The Lady Devils grabbed their second win of the season in grand fashion, annihilating Hillcrest-Evergreen 15-0 in three innings March 7.
"We hit the ball well and we did a good job on defense," Casaday said. "We got a lot of extra base hits and our speed really showed up in that game."
Sophomore Minikia Smith (1-0) got the win on the mound for ECHS, allowing no runs and striking out three batters.
Culliver led the charge on the offensive side, going 3-for-3 and coming a double shy of the cycle with a single, a triple and an inside-the-park home run. Norman was 2-for-3 with two triples and junior first baseman Tieka North was 1-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run.
The Lady Devils scored four runs in the first inning, four in the second and seven in the third en route to victory.