BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
BEAUREGARD — Winning area tournament titles is nothing new to Beauregard High School’s softball team.
However, the Lady Hornets faced a rare opportunity: to claim the 5A Area 6 trophy on their home field for the first time since 2018.
With the double elimination format in their favor, BHS overcame a 12-2 stumble earlier in the afternoon with an 8-6 win over Elmore County High School in Game 2 on May 4.
While it has been an adventure at times integrating younger players into the lineup, BHS head coach Nathan Langley said he knew he could lean on his seniors to provide the necessary leadership.
The defining moment came in between Monday’s two games, when they pulled the rest of the team aside and rallied them before he could even speak.
“It’s been kind of the same story all year, where our identity has come down to the grit these girls have,” Langley said. “It’s just the way these girls were raised, the character they’ve got, what we practice, what we preach. [Softball is] a game of failures. Always will be. And how you control those highs and lows, it’s always, to me, going to determine the outcome.”
As the main driving force behind the Lady Hornets all season, Lindsey Moulton was at her vintage best.
Across all three area tournament games against the Lady Mascots, the star senior shortstop went a combined 5-for-11 with two home runs, six RBIs and five runs.
“It feels really amazing to host this and win on our home field and play our last game here by winning against [Elmore County] after facing that tough loss in the beginning,” Moulton said. “We huddled up and really straightened ourselves out. We had a whole talk as a team and said, ‘We can’t let this be our last game like this. We’re not going to lose our last game on our home field.’”
Despite Moulton grabbing the headlines with her exploits at the plate, the night belonged to fellow senior Raegan Brooks.
A “bulldog on the mound” and a “grown woman in an 18-year-old’s body” according to Langley, Brooks overcame a sluggish start to Game 2 by allowing just three runs over the final six innings.
“I knew I had to do something for my girls, and I wasn’t ready to just be satisfied with anything less than exemplary play,” Brooks said. “I told myself ‘You need to figure out a way to seal the deal and keep pushing because it’s up to you.’ So I just shut them down as fast as I could.”
Game 1
After defeating the Lady Panthers 11-1 on Friday, May 1, BHS found itself shell-shocked after ECHS roared out of the gate with four runs in the bottom of the first.
While Brooks’ and Macie Bellflower’s sacrifice flies drove in Moulton and Calista Baggett in the top of the first and second innings, respectively, the Lady Hornets just could not keep up.
Following BHS’s second and final run, the Lady Panthers added three runs in the second, two runs in the third, a run in the fourth and two more runs in the sixth to repay the Lady Hornets in kind.
McKenzie Handley pitched 3 ⅔ innings in relief for BHS, surrendering seven hits and six runs while striking out one and walking none. Moulton opened the game for the Lady Hornets, allowing five hits and six runs over 1 ⅔ innings while striking out none and walking two.
Addisyn Stephenson claimed the save for ECHS by giving up three hits, walking one and striking out two in five complete innings.
Game 2
Following BHS’s heart-to-heart in between games, it initially appeared as though the Lady Panthers would pull out an improbable series win after striking first.
Those opening runs came in the bottom of the first, with ECHS plating three runners in the frame.
But the Lady Hornets answered emphatically in the top of the second, sending three runs across the plate to take a 5-3 lead. Shelby Craft’s two-RBI double sparked the rally before Moulton followed with a double to left field that scored Craft. Handley laid down a bunt that brought Moulton home from third to extend the lead, and Ellie Burroughs capped the inning with an RBI single to right.From there, Craft was not finished, with her RBI single in the third extending the lead to 6-3, though the Lady Panthers answered with a run of their own in the bottom half.
The Lady Hornets tacked on insurance runs in the middle innings as Moulton singled to left in the fifth to score Bellflower from second, and Avery Parmer drove in Emma Swords with a single to left in the sixth.
ECHS mounted a final threat in the bottom of the seventh, scoring twice before BHS’s defense closed things out.
The Lady Hornets finished with 12 hits. Burroughs joined Craft with three hits apiece, and Moulton added two hits in five at-bats. The Hornets also turned a double play in the win.
Brooks went the distance for BHS, allowing eight hits and six runs — four earned — over seven innings. She also struck out three and walked three.
Stephenson took the loss for the Lady Panthers, giving up eight hits and four runs — two earned — with one strikeout and no walks in 4 ⅔ innings.
