Even before the game started, it seemed like nothing was going right for the Wallace Lady Govs.
Head coach David Dews was out with an illness. Four of the Lady Govs were unavailable due to sickness or injury. The newly repaired scoreboard wasn't working because of a lightning strike over the weekend. The campus internet was down so there was no live feed of the game.
But through all of that, some good news emerged. The Lady Govs got their first conference win of the season, winning game one of the doubleheader 8-4. Wallace wasn't as fortunate in game two however, managing only one hit and dropping the game 9-0.
"It was overwhelming," said assistant coach Briana Griffiths who was feeling in as head coach. "It was exciting that we got our first conference win and we got it at home. We swung the bats well, got some time hits, and we didn't make any errors (in game one)."
In game one, the Lady Govs only scored in two innings, but those two innings were enough to claim the victory. A three-run second inning and a five-run fourth inning did the trick.
In the second inning. Olivia Elliott led off with a single and later came around to score on a wild pitch. After Jaci Hagler reached on an error and Caroline Armstrong singled, Shaylei Mock brought both of them home with a single to right field.
After Marion got one of those runs back in the top of the third, the Lady Govs put the game away in the bottom of the fourth. Two runs scored when Erin Curry hit an infield single to third base and the ball was thrown away into right field. Reagan Tomlin singled to right field to plate the third run, and then Elliott capped off the scoring with a long two-run homer over the fence in left field.
Marion was able to score three runs in the top fifth, but Wallace never trailed in this game.
Elliott got the win on the mound, pitching five innings while Jalei Freeman pitched the final two innings to earn the save.
The Lady Govs got off on the wrong foot in game two, committing their first error of the day. One batter later, Avery Watkins turned that miscue into a run when she singled to centerfield.
From there it only got worse. Although Wallace didn't commit another error, Marion was the recipient of three hits and a walk which they turned into three more runs.
Marion added two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to close out their scoring.
The Lady Govs did mount a scoring threat in the bottom of the sixth. Elliott , Curry, and Hagler all singled to start the inning and load the bases. But a strike out and a double play ended the game.
