The Coffee Lady Trojans took care of the Lee County Lady Trojans Tuesday in Leesburg 10-2 in five innings behind the bat of Kanlee Douglas and another dominating pitching performance from Maggie Brown. Coffee is now 16-5 overall and 9-4 in region play with two more region games remaining.
Coffee waited until a little late in the game to get things going and trailed Lee 2-1 after three innings. Then, in the fourth and fifth innings, the bats woke up and Coffee put the game away once and for all.
In the fourth, Coffee did all of its damage with two outs. Brown led off with a walk. A strikeout and a ground out gave Lee a little hope of getting out of the inning unscathed. Then the scoring began. Karlee Thomas and Ella Winters walked to load the bases. Douglas followed with a single, scoring pinch runner Ivey Grantham and Thomas, giving Coffee a 3-2 lead. Ella Edge walked then Jocelyn Fender singled, driving in Winters. With the bases loaded again and RiRi Paulk at the plate, Douglas scored on a passed ball. Then Paulk singled, scoring pinch runner Hannah Carlon and Jocelyn Fender. Paulk attempted to get to second but was thrown out. However, the damage was done and Coffee had a 7-2 lead.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth for Lee, Coffee picked up where they left off. Brown led off again, this time with a double. Allie Pridgen singled, advancing Brown to third. After a strikeout, Thomas reached on an infield single that loaded the bases. Winters singled, scoring pinch runner Grantham. Douglas also singled, which scored Pridgen. Edge followed with a fly to center that allowed Thomas to tag from third and give Coffee a 10-2 lead. A strikeout ended the inning. However, the pressure was on Lee to score at least one run in the bottom of the frame to extend the game. They managed a single but couldn’t get a run across. The game ended after the fifth via eight-run mercy rule.
Douglas was 3-4 with four RBI and a run. Winters was 2-2 with an RBI, two runs, and two walks. Paulk drove in two as well. Winters and Brown both doubled for Coffee’s only extra-base hits.
Brown commanded the circle once again on Tuesday, giving up two earned runs on five hits. She struck out seven and didn’t walk anyone.
Today, Lee travels to Faircloth Field for a doubleheader to wrap up the region schedule. Coffee’s final seeding remains up in the air. Even if Coffee sweeps Lee tonight, they will likely be tied for the #3 seed. A tiebreaker between Houston and Lee is scheduled for September 30; depending upon what happens around the region today, that game may or may not be a factor. Coffee needs to break out the brooms this afternoon at Faircloth and take care of business. After that, it will be a waiting game. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.