On Wednesday October 8th the Dublin Irish softball team rolled into town. The Swainsboro Lady Tigers were all set for a home game and senior recognition night, but the weather just didn’t want to cooperate. Shortly before the festivities were to begin, the skies opened up and rain began to fall. The field couldn’t handle that much rain so the game had to be canceled and senior recognition night was moved to Thursday.
On Thursday the Lady Tigers welcomed the Vidalia Indians to town for the final game of the regular season. As mentioned earlier, just before the game, the Lady Tiger coaching staff recognized their three senior players for their dedication to the program for the last four years. Recognized, along with their families, were center fielder AC Murphy, right fielder Gracie Beneteau, and speedster Jalaya Freeman.
When the game action finally got underway, Swainsboro gave up single runs in the first and second innings to fall behind early by a score of 2-0. Swainsboro responded in the bottom of the third inning when AC Murphy delivered an RBI double to drive in courtesy runner Jalaya Freeman. The Indians then answered in the fourth inning with one run to extend the Vidalia lead to 3-1. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Lady Tigers led off the bottom of the sixth inning with consecutive singles by AC Murphy, Sara Smith, Lily Hudson, and Gracie Beneteau. Those four singles plated two runs which tied the game at 3-3. Neither offense was able to put together anything in the seventh inning so the game moved to extra innings.
Again in the eighth inning, neither squad was able to score a run. In the top of the ninth inning, however, the Indians advanced a runner to second base but the threat was soon put to rest when left fielder Hillary Garvin raced to the foul line to take away what looked to be a sure hit when the ball left the bat. The run-saving catch by Garvin was the third out of the inning and seemed to give the Lady Tigers a little momentum going into the bottom of the ninth. AR Lewis then led off with an infield single to get things going. Later in the inning, a Kyleigh Hostilo walk, a fielders choice, and a Mylie Beneteau single loaded the bases with two outs and AC Murphy coming to the plate. With Murphy having a hot bat, the Indians seemed to pitch around her to some extent. With a two ball, no strike count in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Indian pitcher skipped a pitch in the dirt which got by the catcher and allowed Hostilo to race home with the winning run. Final score: Swainsboro 4 – Vidalia 3.
Leading Swainsboro at the plate were AC Murphy (2-4, 2B, RBI), Lily Hudson (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), and AR Lewis (2-4). Picking up the win in relief was Sidney Lively. Lively allowed no runs on just two hits in five innings of work while picking up five strikeouts.
