Excel Christian Academy softball 1-3 at Dalton tourney

Excel Christian Academy’s softball team opened the 2015 season at the Dalton Invitational this past Friday and Saturday winning once and dropping three games.

The Lady Eagles found themselves down early to Dade County Friday afternoon, but battled back to tie their opener 4-4 before the Lady Wolverines scored twice in the final frame for a 6-4 win. Sophomore pitcher, Taylor Gibson, went the distance but suffered the pitching loss for the Eagles. Whitney Harris and Brighton McCollum were both 2-for-3 at the plate for Excel.

In the nightcap, Sonoraville handed Excel a 12-5 loss.

Freshman, Haley Owens, got her first high school start in the circle for the Lady Eagles. Gibson was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate in the loss. “We played pretty well against Dade even though we have a lot of players adjusting to new positions,” said ECA coach Eric Harris. “Owens did fine in her first pitching outing. We just made too many mistakes behind her against Sonoraville.”

On Saturday morning, the Lady Eagles notched their first win of the year behind the pitching of junior Aliza Baker. Excel defeated Lovett 9-3.

In the victory, Lindsay Mauldin was 3-for-3, while Hannah Cauthen and Gibson were both 2-for-2. Dalton defeated Excel 8-0 in the Lady Eagles’ final game of the weekend tournament.

The Lady Catamounts broke open a close game with six runs in the fourth inning on their way to the shutout victory. Harris and McCollum had the only hits for Excel against Dalton. Gibson went the distance again in the circle.

“Baker had not pitched in a while, but she did an outstanding job in the circle Saturday morning,” noted Harris. “We hung in there for a while with Dalton too. It was only 1-0 for a while, but they pulled away late.”

The Lady Eagles tried to get their season opener played earlier last week at Walker, but lightening in the area forced that game to be postponed and replayed from the beginning although ECA was leading 2-1 early after a couple of delays.

ECA is scheduled to play at Trion Tuesday (Aug 25) at 5:30pm before playing Mt. Zion at home on Thursday (Aug 27) at 4:30pm. The Eagles will then travel to Macon Saturday (Aug 29) for a double header playing Tattnall Square Academy and Stratford Academy.