Southwest DeKalb’s Jamia Josey (8) beats a throw to Lithonia third baseman Jordan Shy to advance a base during Southwest DeKalb’s 18-3 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers used timely hitting on the way to an 18-3 season opening Region 5-4A fast pitch softball win over the Lithonia Bulldogs at Southwest DeKalb on Tuesday evening.
Lithonia benefited from a passed ball on a strikeout and a walk to get runners to second and third with one out in the top of the first inning. Southwest pitcher Jamia Josey bounced back with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
Southwest would put 12 runs on the board in the bottom of the first as they sent 15 batters to the plate. The big hit in the inning was a shot off the bat of Madelyn Flournoy to deep center field that drove in three runs. Mahala Dixon had an RBI single and a walk with the bases loaded to drive in two runs in the bit inning and Jamia Josey added an RBI single.
Lithonia, trailing 12-0, picked up a run in the top of the second as Shamiyah Williams reached on a wild pitch on a strikeout and later scored on another wild pitch to make the score 12-1 in favor of the Panthers heading into the bottom half of the inning.
An error opened the door for Southwest to put up two runs in the second with an infield single by Kennen Thomas driving in one of the two runs to up the lead to 14-1.
The Bulldogs had back-to-back hits in the top of the third to notch a pair of runs including an RBI single down the left field line by Taylor Shead and a follow up single by Jordan Shy. The single by Shy set up a score by Shead as she moved across the plate on a passed ball.
Leading 14-3, Southwest DeKalb tacked on four runs in the bottom of the third as Morgan Woods supplied the big hit with a two-run single to left. An error on the infield for Lithonia led to the game-ending run scoring as Nyla Blair scored to make it 18-3.
Southwest pitcher Jamia Josey finished with 12 strikeouts in the game and allowed just two hits. Flournoy was 2-2 at the plate with three RBI to lead the Panthers (1-0, 1-0) at the plate. Nyla Blair was 2-3 with a double and Morgan Woods was 2-4 with three RBI. Mahala Dixon was 1-1 with two RBI on the day.
Taylor Shead was 1-1 with an RBI and Jordan Shy was 1-2 to lead the Bulldogs (0-1, 0-1) at the plate.