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Lady Eagles edge past Jackson County
Eastside Softball 1
Abby Orton (8) looks to advance from first to second base against Jackson County on Sept. 13. - photo by Phillip B. Hubbard

COVINGTON, Ga. — With the score remaining tied since the third inning, Eastside ended up edging out Jackson County 3-1 on Monday in a close region matchup. 

It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Lady Eagles were able to get anything consistent going offensively. 

Bases were loaded with no outs and the score tied 1-1 when Jada Brown came to the plate. Facing an 0-2 count, Brown connected and sent the ball to right field. The ball barely slipped through the outfielder’s glove and hit the grass. 

Anslee Saunchegraw and Lauren Burnett scored from third and second base, respectively. 

Even though the Lady Eagles didn’t score any more runs in the inning, Brown’s RBI double was enough to send her team home with a win. 

Eagles head coach Heather Wood highlighted how her team adapted to Jackson County’s game plan and strung together hits to set up the scoring opportunity. 

“We had a lot of pop ups because of some high pitches, but we made the adjustment and that’s what we need,” Wood said. 

Admittedly, Wood stressed how her team needs to alter their approach quicker in a game like that in the future. 

Be that as it may, the Lady Eagles still came out on top and improved to 7-1 overall with a 6-1 record in region play. 

Monday’s win wouldn’t have been possible without the impressive performance by the Lady Eagles’ defense. 

It all started with pitcher Dezariah Johnson. She went seven innings, surrendered five hits, one run and walked one batter while striking seven. 

Almost every position player, too, stepped up to assist their pitcher. Whether it was tracking down a ball in the outfield or getting a runner out in the infield, multiple contributions were made for Eastside to take home the win. 

Moving forward, their head coach wants them to maintain that attention to detail to keep generating wins. 

“We just need to stay focused,” Wood said. “We can’t take anyone lightly in our region and we need to be ready to go earlier in the game.”