The Madison County High School softball team took down the defending region champions Tuesday to move to 2-0.
Madison County built a 4-0 lead and held off Loganville late for a gripping 4-3 victory at home.
Raider coach Doug Kesler said his team took advantage of opportunities at the plate and on the base paths in scoring a huge early-season win.
“I’m proud of the girls,” he said. “I felt like we put a little pressure on them with our speed. I felt like we had some big hits and some timely hits.”
Loganville hadn’t lost a region game since 2007.
Madison County scored once in the first inning and three more times in the second off highly touted Red Devil pitcher Katy Lewis after struggling against the Loganville ace last year.
“I thought we did a better job of putting the ball in play and being selective at the plate,” Kesler said.
Meanwhile, Raider starter Erin Gibson (2-0) earned a complete game win, allowing five hits, just one earned run and two walks while striking out five.
Gibson shut out the Red Devils for three innings before surrendering an earned run in the fourth. Loganville then added two unearned runs in the sixth with the help of some Raider defensive miscues to make things interesting.
“We helped them out in the sixth inning … But Erin pitched a good seventh and we were able to get out of it,” Kesler said.
Offensively, Sam LaZear went 2-for-3 and Abby Atkinson went 1-for-3, while Haley Peeples, Katie Bolin, Timia Skelton all went 1-for-3.
Madison County opened its season Monday with a 9-7 extra inning win over Heritage in Conyers.
A throwing error on in the top of eighth brought home Brandi Osborne and Sarah Smith for the go-ahead scores.
Gibson — who pitched the last three and two-thirds innings — held off Heritage in the bottom of the eighth for the win.
“We played pretty good,” Kesler said. “We had some girls hit the ball, which was a positive thing to take from it.”
Both Bolin and Peeples enjoyed 3-for-4 days at the plate. Peeples, Madison County’s leadoff hitter, reached base four times in the victory.
Madison County now moves on the annual Leadoff Classic at the Madison County Recreation Department.
The Raiders will play six times over the next three days, starting with Oglethorpe County today (Thursday).
The early-season tournament will allow Madison County an extended chance to look at its defensive lineup before subregion play begins Tuesday against Habersham Central.
But winning is the main objective.
“Confidence is such a big thing,” Kesler said. “A lot of times the players don’t see that you’re trying different things. All they see is, ‘hey, we won or we got beat’ … So we’re still going out there to win.”
