A long weekend coming on the heels of a difficult week caused by Tropical Storm Debby appeared to have caught up with the Bryan County softball team Tuesday evening when it dropped a 13-4 decision to Metter.
Playing their home opener after splitting a pair of games last Saturday at Jackson – a 180-mile one-way trip – the Redskins saw the Tigers erupt for six runs in the fifth inning to break open a one-run game in the Region 3A-DII opener for both teams.
Bryan County (1-2) was down 5-4 when it all fell apart as Metter (2-1) finally caught up with promising sophomore pitcher Emily Johnson who had stranded six runners including working her way out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning without giving up a run. First year coach Jessica Cooper was disappointed with her team’s play with it coming on the heels of what she thought was a productive opening weekend.
“We beat Jackson last Saturday and then battled Mary Persons before losing,” Cooper said. “It was a long trip for us to have to play back-to-back games.
“We’re young and we’re still working on some things,” Cooper said. “But this was not the team I’ve been seeing since June. Unfortunately, we decided not to show that team in our first region game. “I still have all the confidence in the world in these girls. I know we’re not going to show up and play the way we did from here on out. We went up and battled through some things and then one really bad inning just got us.” Metter struck first when Johnson walked Peyton Verbel with one out and then uncorked a wild pitch after Jordan Verbel’s single had sent her sister to third. After Jordan Verbel reached third, the hard throwing Johnson struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
In the bottom of the first Liz Harvey and Lauren Sanderson opened the game with singles and Cam Parker walked to load the bases for Johnson who helped her cause by drilling a 0-1 pitch to deep center for a 2-1 lead.
Metter answered with two runs in the third and fourth innings before the Redskins closed the gap with a pair in the fourth with Harvey, who had three hits, driving in one run and Lila Hannah scored on a fielder’s choice.
However, the Redskins’ fourth also saw them leave the bases loaded which added to Cooper’s frustration. While Bryan County had 11 hits it also left nine runners stranded.
“We left too many runners on base,” Cooper said. “We weren’t executing with less than two outs and runners in scoring position. That changes the momentum of the game. We’ve got to clean up some little things and get the bats alive. We’ve been hitting the ball all year so today was something new.
“We just got cold at the wrong time.” The game kicked off a busy week for the Redskins who were at Bradwell Institute on Wednesday before coming home for a region game with Screven County on Thursday. Bradwell visits on Monday and Tuesday is another region game at Jenkins with a trip to Claxton on Thursday.