Lady Green Wave successful in season opener

By Myra Bean

The North Delta Lady Green Wave softball team finally got its season started with a 17-2 three-inning win over Tupelo Christian Preparatory School Friday afternoon.

The first scheduled tournament of the season and first game of the regular season were cancelled last week, delaying the season opener.

The Lady Green Wave  (2-2) continued play in the Bayou Academy tournament on Saturday. The Lady Wave defeated Carroll County but lost to Marshall Academy and Indianola Academy in the tournament.

Against Tupelo, Mary Jane Morrow pitched the three innings for the win. She had eight strikeouts, allowed three walks, two hits and two earned runs.

North Delta’s first two batters were in the bottom of the first inning. Courtney McCullar and Lauren Tidwell hit back-to-back triples to get runners on base and start the scoring.

Melanie Gaters followed with a single to drive home Tidwell. Tidwell’s triple drove home Erin Snider, courtesy runner for catcher McCullar.

After Gaters hit, Laci DuBravec singled to drive home  Gaters whose speed let her round the bases before the ball was back in the infield.

DuBravec worked her way around the bases on passed balls and scored.

North Delta put up another three runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Bradi Beard and McCullar both got on bases on first base errors.

Tidwell followed with her second triple of the day to drive those two runs home. DuBravec grounded out to the shortstop, but not before driving Tidwell home for the run.

The Lady Green Wave put up 10 runs in the bottom of the third, after Tupelo scored its only two runs in the top of the inning.

The bottom of the third was highlighted with an inside two-run homerun by Tidwell, who drove home Snider running for McCullar. McCullar had walked to get on base.

Tidwell was three for three on the day with a homerun, two triples and four RBIs.

Also hitting for the Lady Green Wave were Linsey Hebert, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Beard, 2 singles, 2 RBIs; McCullar, 1 triple, 1 walk, 1 RBI; Gaters, 2 singles, 1 RBI; DuBravec, 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Morrow, 2 singles, 1 walk; Kathryn Eckles, 2 singles, 2 RBIs; and Morgan Lawrence, 3 singles.

B-Team

The B-team took two innings to defeat Tupelo 12-8.

Peyton Rico was throwing in her first school game in which the mound was seven feet further at 42 feet than she trained to throw.

She had six strikeouts, but one  third strike was dropped and the Tupelo runner got to base for a North Delta error.

All the North Delta runners got on base by walks or hit by pitches. Most runs were scored on passed balls.

The Green Wave teams were in Tupelo Monday for games but the scores were not available at press time. They will be on the road for the remainder of this week and return home Tuesday, August 14 to host Tunica Institute in district action.

On Thursday, August 9, the Lady Green Wave will play at Magnolia Heights at 4 p.m.. On Saturday, the Lady Wave will participate in the Kirk Academy Tournament in Grenada. Monday, the team travels to West Memphis Christian for the first district game of the season at 4 p.m.