The Manchester Academy Lady Mavericks are now 5-0 in their season after defeating Deer Creek Academy 7-6 in a nail-biting match-up on Monday night.
"We played them last week and it was a very similar game," said Coach Robert Black. "Both teams started off low scoring. One team jumped out and we came back to tie it up and send the game into extra innings."
The first inning of the game ended with a tie of 1-1 between the Manchester girls and the Lady Warriors. Things started to heat up in the second inning when a Deer Creek batter hit a homerun out of the field, changing the score 2-1. The Lady Mavericks fought hard to keep the Lady Warriors at bay, with big plays from Lanie Potter who tagged a runner out and caught an infield fly. Another good play by Presley Trammell brought that inning to a close and gave the Lady Mavs a change to take back the game.
Starting off in the third inning, a double from Lanie Potter advances runners and brought home another run tying the game 2-2. The Manchester girls took control in the fourth inning as well after several good hits from Thea Trammell, Addison Richie, and Maci Lowery changed the score to 5-2.
It was in the 5th Inning that the game started to change for the Lady Mavericks. Coach Black made a change and put Lowery on the mound in relief for Sydney Porter. The Lady Warriors took advantage of the errors made on the infield and were able to change the score to 6-5 in favor of Deer Creek.
The Lady Mavericks fought their way back to tie the game 6-6 in the sixth inning after a single from Lanie Potter.
The game became more intense as the Lady Warrior offense put more pressure on the Manchester girls when a bit hit left base runners on 2nd and 3rd. The Lady Mavericks pushed through and kept Deer Creek from scoring after some great defensive plays, including a pop-fly snagged behind second base by Presley Trammell.
Since the game was still tied, both teams went into a sudden-death overtime with a runner on second base. On their first attempt to score the Lady Mavericks we caught short when Lizzie Carpenter was called out sliding into home plate. However, the Manchester girls were successful in their second attempt when a single hit by Thea Trammell brought home Anna Kate Griffin, scoring the winning run and bringing home another victory for Manchester Academy.
"They have a terrific pitcher and we struggled with her, but when it came down to it we had to put the ball in play and we were fortunate to win the ball game," said Black. "I just felt like we had a lot of confidence coming back and that's the thing about this team is that they are not going to give up."
Leading on offense in this game were Lanie Potter with a double and Maci Lowery with a triple.
"Lanie has been solid all year, offensively and defensively, and we are going to rely heavily on her again this year," said Black. "This is Maci's first year with us and she is one of the younger girls. She is a very versatile player and we are tickled to have her."
Black said that two of his newest players are upperclassmen, Peyton Jones and Anna Kate Griffin, who have contributed greatly to the team's success.
He added that younger girls like Sydney Porter and Presley Trammell bring a lot of talent and experience to the team as well.
"We are a very young team and I told the girls that just because we are 5-0 now, we can't let it go to our heads," Black said. "We want to be good in late September, so hopefully we can stay focused this year and get better as we go."
Going forward the Lady Mavericks will play Central Hinds at home this week, and will travel to Central Holmes on Thursday.
