Sumter County Softball Team falls to Fitzgerald

Published 1:43 pm Wednesday, September 20, 2023

: Sumter County pitcher Madison Shelton is seen here competing against Fitzgerald. Photo by Ken Gustafson

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AMERICUS – The Sumter County High School Softball Team (SCHS) was hoping to end a nine-game losing streak when the Lady Panthers hosted Fitzgerald (FHS) on Tuesday, September 19. Unfortunately for the Lady Panthers, the Lady Purple Hurricanes scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning, including a three-run homer by Ty’kerria Barney. From that point on, it was a difficult deficit for the Lady Panthers to overcome and they went on to lose to FHS 16-5.

“We let ourselves kind of implode at the end of the game,” SCHS Head Coach Coleman Price said. “We got up early and got overconfident and it showed as they began to come back. The home run kind of deflated us. We committed a few errors after that and then it just seemed that we were just out of the game and we never recovered from it. We will get back at it tomorrow at practice and get our girls back going. We’ve got two in Fitzgerald against the same team on Thursday so we look forward to playing them and hopefully, we will come out on the other side of the coin.”

The Lady Purple Hurricanes scored two runs in the top of the first inning. India Paschal drove in a run on an RBI double and Ty’kerria Barney drove in another run on an RBI single.

Sumter County’s Isis Snipes had two singles in the loss to Fitzgerald.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

In the bottom of the first, the Lady Panthers responded with two runs of their own, as they took advantage of three walks and a wild pitch. Isis Snipes led off the inning with a single and would later score the first run. Christina Battle would later drive in the second run when she hit into a fielder’s choice.

SCHS took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second, as Candace Pitts got hit by a pitch and would later score a run. Then in the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Panthers added two more runs to take a 5-2 lead.

However, the Lady Purple Hurricanes exploded in the top of the fifth inning with six runs on four hits, including the three-run home run by Barney. From this point onward, the Lady Panthers could not overcome their deficit, as FHS would add three more runs in the top of the sixth on two hits.

Then in the top of the seventh inning, the Lady Purple Hurricanes added five more insurance runs on three hits to secure their 16-5 victory, their first victory of the season.

The Lady Panthers (2-11) will play a double header in Fitzgerald against this same FHS team on Thursday, September 21.