Football isn’t the only sport that has been affected by bad weather during the early fall sports season. Tuesday, the Coffee Lady Trojans and the Houston County Lady Bears were two innings deep in the first game of their season series when a light rain started falling. Fans, players, and umpires didn’t expect the shower to last long – the sun was out the whole time – but the light rain soon turned into a short but intense downpour that left the infield in a mess at Faircloth Field.
Coffee was leading 1-0 when the rain came. After a delay of nearly an hour while coaches and volunteers worked on the infield, play resumed. Coffee and Houston traded runs – Coffee in the fifth and Houston in the sixth – as the Lady Trojans cruised to a 2-1 win.
The Lady Bears outhit the Lady Trojans 6-3 but Coffee outpaced Houston where it counted the most, albeit by a small margin. One of the Lady Trojans’ runs came on a first-inning error that proved very costly.
With one out in the first, Jocelyn Fender tripled then scored when Kanlee Douglas hit a grounder to the infield. An error on the play put Douglas on first and scored Fender for a 1-0 Coffee lead.
With two out in the fifth, Ella Edge hit a 3-1 pitch out to center for a solo home run and a 2-0 Lady Trojan advantage. The homer was the difference in the game; an inning later, Ann Marie DeFore scored on a single by Lily Brzezicki to cut Coffee’s lead to 2-1.
Maggie Brown, however, was dealing. The Lady Bears managed six hits but the damage was minimal; Brown gave up just one run and struck out six to one walk.
Edge, Fender, and Brown had hits for the Lady Trojans. Edge and Fender each scored a run apiece.
Coffee is 9-2 this season and 7-0 in the region. The Lady Trojans travel to Houston County Thursday for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.
