Lady Bison win County Clash

BHS’ Jennifer Pate takes off frrom first base. Van’Go’photo Buffalo and Centerville met Thursday night during County Show week. Centerville had won the first outing 7-5, and held a half-game lead over the Lady Bison. Thursday's contest looked to be a repeat as Centerville took the early lead, but Buffalo came from behind in the seventh inning to secure a 6-5 victory. The two Leon County teams are tied at 7-2 with five district games remaining. Corrigan Camden stands alone at the top of 21AA at 9-0.

The Lady Tigers' pitcher Jessi Long meant business from the opening pitch, striking out the first two batters. The Lady Bison were three up, three down before taking the field. Becca Smith led off for Centerville and doubled to left center. Smith scored on a single to give the Lady Tigers a 1-0 lead. The next three batters were out at first, and Buffalo retired the Lady Tigers with one on board.

Ready for action -- Lady Bison Jordyn Briscoe and Nikki Dorman stay focused in a tight game. Van’Go’photo The Lady Bison led off the second inning with a pop up, then Heather Sigert advanced on balls. Lindsey McGill bunted to advance the runner, and was safe at first on an error, but both runners were stranded when BHS picked up consecutive outs.

Centerville got a runner on base with a Buffalo error and a double scored the runner. A sacrifice advanced the next Tiger to scoring position and a line drive to center scored the run. Centerville squeezed in another run on a passed ball to lead 4-0 after two.

Buffalo failed to make any noise in the third, but the Lady Bison retired the Lady Tigers' first three batters in the third to maintain the four point margin. Sigert reached on a walk in the top of the fourth, but Buffalo could not bring her home. Centerville only sent three batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, and the score remained 4-0 in favor of the Tigers.

Meredith Shaw led off in the top of the fifth with a solid lick, but short stop Raimey Griffen used all her height to rob the Lady Bison. Centerville's defense prevailed to shut down the Lady Bison's offense. The first two Lady Tigers drew walks to start their fifth inning campaign. Rachel Morris struck out the next batter, but a fielding error on the next attempt loaded the bases. Long followed with a single to score Centerville's fifth run. Buffalo managed the last out with two Lady Tigers on base.

At the top of the batting order in the top of the sixth, junior catcher Jennifer Pate led off with a single, the Lady Bison's first hit of the game. Jordyn Briscoe also made solid contact, but the ball was caught in deep right field. Nikki Dorman stroked one up the gut to give Lady Bison runners on the corners. Morris's sacrifice advanced Dorman to second. Sigert drew her third walk of the game to load the bases. McGill nailed a single, scoring two runs and advancing an extra base. Shaw reached on an error, and scored Sigert . Courtney Cunningham drew a walk to load the bases. Centerville changed pitchers with two outs and bases loaded. Smith struck out the first batter she faced to stop the bleeding. Buffalo trailed 3-5 going into the bottom of the sixth.

Second baseman Sigert tracked a ball hit to short center and fielded it for the first out. McGill hosed the next hit in deep center. The Lady Bison committed back to back errors to give Centerville new life, but Pate found Shaw at first for the final out.

Pate led off in the seventh and was struck by the third pitch. Briscoe doubled with a line drive to score Pate. Dorman was also hit by a pitch and advanced to give Buffalo the tying run on base. Morris's long ball to center was bobbled, and Briscoe scored to tie the game. Sigert singled to score Dorman and give Buffalo its first lead of the game.

Centerville had last atbat in the bottom of the seventh. The lead off reached on an error, and the second batter walked. Morris struck out the third batter. Clean up Christie Wellman made solid contact, but Sigert sparked what turned out to be a triple play with a great catch at second. She flicked the ball to Briscoe who was covering second who connected to Shaw at first to end the game.

Buffalo defeated New Waverly 5-3 earlier in the week. The Lady Bison will host Groveton on Tuesday before traveling to Trinity on Friday.