Early lead for Church Point seals Pine Prairie’s fate

PINE PRAIRIE -- The Pine Prairie Lady Panthers fell behind 5-1 after three innings of play and could not regain their offensive production long enough in a 6-2 loss to the Church Point Lady Bears Thursday afternoon.
Pine Prairie drops to 7-8 on the season and 3-2 in District 5-3A play. The Lady Panthers were scheduled to play in the Sulphur Tournament this past weekend before returning to league play on Tuesday at Port Barre.
Church Point got the ball rolling on offense in the top of the first inning. An error put the lead off batter, Savannah Doucet on first base.
A fly ball out was followed by a fielder’s choice, sending Doucet to third base. Lauren Meche singled home Doucet to give the Lady Bears a 1-0 lead.
Pine Prairie tied the game up in the bottom of the first inning. After a pop-up to the first baseman for the first out, Asia George tripled down the left field line.
A sacrifice fly off of the bat of Maycie Hardy plated George. However, the Lady Panthers could not continue the offensive momentum.
Church Point collected three more runs in the top of the second inning. With one out, the Lady Bears were able to put a runner at first base via a walk.
After a stolen base put the runner at second, a fielder’s choice off of the bat of Gabby Herpin got the lead runner out trying to reach third. Herpin then scored on a single to left field by Doucet.
Back-to-back errors by the Lady Panther defense allowed Doucet to score and put runners at second and third with two outs. The final run was pushed across on a single by Meche.
The Lady Bears added to their lead in the top of the third inning scoring a single run, to make it a 5-1 game. Church Point collected the run on one hit, a hit-by-pitch, a walk and a wild pitch.
Neither teams could muster any offense in the fourth or fifth innings. The closest Pine Prairie came was in the bottom of the fourth, when Hardy walked and stole second base. However, Hardy was put out before she could reach third base.
The Lady Bears finished off their scoring in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Jones reached base on a fielder’s choice, reached second on a stolen base and came across to score on a single by Meche.
The Lady Panthers gathered their second run in the bottom half of the inning when Kaitlyn Robinson doubled and later scored on a Hardy double.
Hardy led all Pine Prairie batters, going 1 for 1 with a double and two RBI.