he Lady Tigers of Commerce are still working to find their footing early in the season.
They have lost four games, including a match up with Jefferson last Tuesday, but did record a win against Towns County over the weekend as they continue to fine-tune their program before next week’s region opener.
Before they get to region play, however, they still had one game against Banks County to be played. It’s was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Commerce. Check www.mainstreetnewssports.com for score updates.
Last Tuesday, the Lady Tigers hosted the Lady Dragons of Jefferson, and were defeated 10-0 in a game that went only five innings.
Freshman pitcher Kayla Burks recorded the loss. Senior C.J. Wilkes got Commerce’s lone hit during the game.
“We’re still working our young pitchers,” said Commerce head softball coach Pam Canup. “We tend to be hitting the ball, but it’s straight to somebody.”
It was a similar story last Wednesday, as the Tigers traveled to Homer to face the Lady Leopards, and were handed a 9-1 loss.
Brooklynn Stinchcomb, Wilkes and Ashley Lord all recorded hits against Banks County.
Canup said the team continues to try to get better, and is using these early games to allow some of the younger pitchers some experience.
“By the time we reach region, they will already have been in all kinds of situations,” she said. “They’re doing some good things. With the younger competition, sometimes you can get away with not hitting the spot exactly. So they’re getting some very valuable experience where it doesn’t affect our end-of-season placement.
“That will help us, not only this year, but definitely next year.”
Commerce next hosted the Commerce Invitational on Saturday. The first opponent was Towns County, a team that won its last two match ups with the Lady Tigers.
But Commerce turned the tables this time and came away with a 3-1 victory.
Stinchcomb, Wilkes and Brittney Beauchamp each recorded one hit each while Rebekah Andrews had two hits. Brooke Vickery got the win on the mound.
The next game didn’t go quite as well as the Lady Tigers lost 8-6 to Gainesville.
Stinchcomb reached base in all three of her trips to the plate, once on a triple, and twice on walks. Beauchamp had one hit, as did Andrews. Jessica Kyle reached base twice, once on a walk, and once for a hit.
Beth Pritchett recorded the loss.
“We were in it, but we couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Canup commented.
The Lady Tigers closed out their invitational bid with their second loss to Banks County in less than a week, 6-1.
Wilkes had a hit, as did Andrews and Payton Maddox. Pritchett recorded the loss.
Up next for Commerce was home stand against Banks County on Wednesday afternoon. Check www.mainstreetnewssports.com for score updates.
After facing Banks County, the Lady Tigers have a five-day layoff until they start region play with a Sept. 2 home stand against Towns County to open region play. The game starts at 4:45.
“We’re going to be really working on our hitting,” said Canup. “In these games, we’ve been trying to get exposure to our younger kids. We’ll actually get to our full-fledged lineup beginning with that game, and working on our region lineup.”
