By Chad W. Smith
and Quint Bush
The Dodge County Lady Indians softball team opened sub-region play with two big wins last week at home as they defeated Bleckley County in come-from-behind fashion 4-3 and then defeated Dublin 15-0 in three innings.
The Lady Indians are now 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in the sub-region and were ranked number 10 in last week’s PrepCountry.com/GACA coach’s poll.
In last Tuesday’s game with Bleckley County, the Lady Indians trailed the Lady Royals 1-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning but scored three runs in the bottom of the last inning to take the 4-3 victory.
Leading the Lady Indians were: Adele Harrison 2-for-3 with a sacrifice; Amitie Hussey was 2-for-3, with a double and a walk and an RBI and scored one run; Caitlin Greer was 2-for-3; Bridgette Coleman 2-for-3 and two stolen bases; Jaye Hilliard had an RBI; Ashton Holt had an RBI; Jayme Yearty and Jamie Michael Jones both had walks in the final inning; Summer Dix as a courtesy runner scored run in the seventh inning; Madison Mullis had a stolen base and the tying run in bottom of seventh; Hannah Moore had stolen base and scored winning run to beat Bleckley County 4-3. The winning pitcher was Holt who pitched seven innings and had six strikeouts, allowed six hits, one walk and one earned run.
The Lady Indians shutout the Dublin Lady Irish 15-0 in three innings in last Thursday’s game in Eastman. Leaders for Dodge were: Harrison was 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and scored a run; Hilliard was 2-for-3 with four stolen bases and two runs scored; Ashton Holt was 0-1 with two walks; Blakelyn Bundick had two stolen bases and scored two runs; Hussey was 2-for-2 with three RBIs, one stolen base and two runs scored; Brittany Sorrell was 1-for-2 with an RBI; Caitlin Greer was 2-for-3 with a triple, an RIB and two runs scored; Coleman was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, two stolen bases and one run scored; Moore scored a run; Dix had a walk; Claire Greer was 1-for-1 with an RBI a stolen base and one run scored; Jones was 1-for-2 with an RBI, two stolen bases and one run scored; Katie Selph was 1-for-1 with an RBI and a double; Yearty was 1-for-2 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI; Winning pitcher was Holt is now 12-1 for the season. She pitched two innings with five strikeouts and allowed one hit. Caitlin Greer pitched one inning facing three batters and striking out two of them.
Holt leads all Georgia Fastpitch Softball AA pitchers in wins with 10, strikeouts with 77 in 60 innings and strikeouts per game with nine. She also leads many offensive categories with the highest batting average in the state, regardless of classification, at .710, slugging percentage at 1.108, doubles with 13, and on base percentage at .757.
Dodge County has six Lady Indians in the top 25 batting averages in the state: Holt sits at number 1 with a .710, Harrison is at number 4 with a .528, Caitlin Greer is at number 7 with a .474, Coleman and Hussey are tied at 15 with a .419 and Hilliard is number 25 with a .378 batting average. Senior catcher Sorrell’s average is 32nd best in the state at .343.
The Lady Indians will travel to East Laurens on Tuesday, September 7 at 5:00 p.m. and to Bleckley County for a rematch on Thursday, September 9 at 5:00 p.m. The Lady Indians will then travel to Athens this weekend to participate in the North Oconee Veterans Memorial Invitational Tournament. Dodge has games scheduled in the tournament beginning Friday, September 10 with Winder-Barrow at 5:30 p.m. and Morgan County at 7:00 p.m.
On Saturday they have four games scheduled beginning with Blessed Trinity at 10:15 a.m.; Greenbrier at 11:45 a.m.; Jackson County at 2:45 p.m.; Oconee County at 4:15 p.m.
