Veterans softball defeats Thomas County Central to create three-way tie for region lead

KATHLEEN — The Veterans Lady Warhawks (9-1, 3-1 Region 2-5A) won in an uncharacteristically low-scoring game against Thomas County Central Lady Yellow Jackets (7-3, 3-1 Region) on Tuesday.

The 4-2 final, and Houston County’s loss to Coffee, created a three-way tie for the top region spot between Thomas County Central, Veterans and HoCo. The series finale on Thursday will determine the temporary region leader.

Rayven Hodrige’s excellent defensive play made the difference for Veterans. 

PHOTOS: See more pictures from the Lady Warhawks’ win on Tuesday.

In the first, she robbed a two-run home run to hold the Lady Yellow Jackets scoreless. In the next inning, she threw a missile to catch a runner advancing home. The three runs Hodridge prevented were critical for Veterans in this low-scoring game.

Maddy Kinkade spent all seven on the mound for the Lady Warhawks. 

The bats started hot for Thomas County Central. Kinkade conceded seven hits in the first four innings. Sound defense led by Hodrige held Thomas County Central to only a run in that time.

The Lady Warhawks offense was active in the second inning. Bella Findley reached home from second base after a botched double play to give Veterans the lead. Then, with two outs, hits from Braylin Horton and Hodrige pushed in three more, putting Veterans up 4-0 at the end of the second.

However, Veterans did not ride this energy and were held scoreless the rest of the game, stranding five base runners.

The bats also cooled off for the Lady Yellow Jackets, and Kinkade only gave up one hit in the last three innings. 

Thomas County Central managed to score one in the top of the seventh off a few defensive breakdowns, but the Lady Warhawks stood solid with two runners on and Kinkade struck out the last batter to end the game 4-2.

Veterans softball coach Jeff Sans praised his Lady Warhawks post-game.

“It’s a great job by the girls. They showed a lot of resilience. I think we gave them too many chances to get back into it and we didn’t take advantage of the chances we had to pull away… we won the game early and tried to give it away late. But we held on,” Sans said.

Going into their doubleheader to finish the series, there are still adjustments for Veterans to make. The speed of The Lady Yellow Jackets on the basepaths created some infield hits, hits not usually conceded by the Lady Warhawks.

Sans also hopes to up the energy next game, citing a late finish to their win against Peach the previous night: 

“We hope to approach the next game the same way we approached this game, just hopefully with a little more intensity. A little more fight. We played until ten last night, but that’s just part of the game,” Sans said.

UP NEXT

Veterans Travels to Thomas County Central on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 4:30 and 5:00 P.M. to finish the three-game series.