The Eagles softball team used a resilient effort to pick up its first win of the season Friday afternoon, bouncing back from a 10-1 loss in first game of a double-header to earn a 4-3 victory over visiting North Central Texas College.
Victory did not come easy, though, as the Eagles had to hold off a late charge from the Lady Lions to pick up the win. NTCC led 4-0 heading into the seventh inning only to see the Lady Lions score three runs to cut the deficit to a single run. North Central managed to put the tying run on base but a flyout to center ended the game and secured an Eagles victory.
?For the first few games of this season, we were the team trying to make the big comeback at the end of games. It was nice to be on the other side of that for once,? head coach Jay Terry said. ?Now we know what it takes to hold off a good team to pick up a win.?
Back-to-back doubles by Christina Martin and Hannah Holovach gave the Eagles a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of game two. The Eagles picked up another run in the bottom of the third inning as Erica Graham singled to center, advanced to third on a single by Martin and stole home to put NTCC up 2-0.
A leadoff walk helped Graham score again in the bottom of the fifth as Martin followed with her second homerun of the season, a line-drive shot to left-center that gave NTCC a 4-0 advantage.
The Lady Lions made things interesting in the top of the seventh inning, though, as an walk, an RBI single and a two-run home run cut the NTCC lead to a single run. Holovach was able in induce a fly ball to center by Alyssa Giddens for the final out to secure the win for the Eagles.
Martin led the Eagles at the plate in the win, finishing 3-3 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Katie Holcomb was also 3-3 for the Eagles while Holovach was 1-2 with an RBI double and a walk.
Holovach (1-1) also picked up the win in the pitching circle for the Eagles, giving up three runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking one in a complete-game performance.
Giddens, who played her high school ball at Chapel Hill, finished the game 0-4 for the Lady Lions.
Seven first-inning runs by the Lady Lions was too much for the Eagles to overcome in the first game of the day as North Central won 10-1.
The Eagles? lone run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth inning as Holovach picked up a two-out single and pinch runner Graham scored on a double by Holcomb.
Amanda Shirley took the loss for the Eagles in game one, giving up six runs on one hit while walking three in one-third of an inning of work.
Despite the game-one loss, Terry said he was happy with his team?s performance during the day.
?I think it was very impressive that we were able to shake off that loss and come back with a win in the second game of day,? he said. ?We could have gotten down after a loss like that, but we shook it off and played well in the second game. That is the type of thing that you like to see as a coach.?
The Eagles will be on the road at Grayson County College Wednesday before hosting McLennan Saturday.
