BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
BEULAH — Matched up against a scrappy Beulah High School squad, Opelika High School’s softball team looked to keep their recent good form alive heading into the postseason.
The Lady Bulldogs (7A) did just that, taking down the Lady Bobcats (3A) 9-4 in Beulah on April 23 in a game that featured 21 hits in 63 at-bats between both teams.
OHS improved to 20-15 on the year with the win, and the Lady Bobcats found themselves looking to get back on track at 7-18.
Star freshman shortstop McCall Clayton led the charge for the Lady Bulldogs with two runs and two RBIs, while Jaylee Williams contributed a run and two RBIs and Jas Smith recorded three runs.
Eighth-grade catcher Madison Tapley went 3-for-4 with three runs, and Lillian Grant allowed five hits and no earned runs in four relief innings for the Lady Bobcats.
Despite her team’s big day at the plate, OHS head coach Jessica Thornton focused on her pitching staff.
In her return from a weeks-long injury, Cailyn Morgan earned the win on the mound after allowing seven hits and giving up three earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings.
Thornton also praised her bullpen’s synergy and teamwork before addressing her team’s start to the game following a grueling area schedule.
“I think we spent a lot of energy in our area games, and so we actually kind of came out flat today,” Thornton said. “Obviously I’m still really proud of them getting the job done and doing what they needed to do, but there wasn’t really an intensity that I think characterizes our team. So hopefully we can turn that back on when we get rested a little bit.”
While the pitching staff earned Thornton’s praise, Clayton was again at her stereotypical best. Her two-run home run in the top of the third broke the game open for the Lady Bulldogs, and they never looked back.
Through 35 games played, the slugger is batting 0.495 with 15 home runs, 41 runs and 48 RBIs, and last Thursday’s performance was no exception.
“We produced hits and strung them together when runners were on [base], and we just kept doing our jobs and kept scoring runs,” Clayton said. “We’re a super energetic team, so we have no problem with that. And if we just play our game, we’re going to produce, and we’re going to do what we need to do to win.”
Smith got things started for the Lady Bulldogs in the top of the second when she scored from first on an error after Erin Kemp laced a single into left field.
OHS’s bats stayed hot in the third as Clayton launched a line drive deep into left field for a two-run homer, plating Braelynn Brooks from first to push the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to 3-0.
Despite the early difficulties, BHS answered in the bottom of the frame after two wild pitches allowed Tapley to advance to third and then scamper home to cut the deficit to 3-1.
That rally was short-lived, and the fourth inning blew the game open for OHS. A bases-loaded walk brought Smith home from third, and Brooks followed with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Kaiden Sallie. JZ Agee capped the frame with a hard grounder into center field that forced an error, allowing Williams to score from second and make it 6-1.
However, the Lady Bobcats clawed back in the fifth. Maci Wingo’s sacrifice fly to left field plated Kendall Wright from third, and Charlee Burgess followed with a line-drive single into center to bring home Tapley, trimming the margin to 6-3.
As they did earlier in the game, the Lady Bulldogs immediately responded in the top of the sixth. Clayton, with the aid of an error in center field, lofted a fly ball that became an inside-the-park home run that restored OHS’s four-run cushion.
Up 7-3, the Lady Bulldogs tacked on two more insurance runs in the seventh. This time, it was Morgan Foley, who grounded out near second base to plate Smith from third. Later in the frame, Williams ripped a hard grounder into center to score Sallie and push the lead to 9-3.
Rylee Pruett’s seventh-inning single, a grounder into right field that scored Tapley from third, accounted for the Lady Bobcats’ final run to set the final score at 9-4.
