KING GEORGE—The Southampton Lady Indians struggled to control a potent King George squad, as the Foxes knocked around Indian pitchers Courtney Greene and Megan Duck for 10 hits and took advantage of five Indian miscues in beating the Lady Indians 10-2 in the first round of the Region I playoffs in King George Monday.

The game got off to a good start for the Indians with DeMone` Brickhouse reaching on a dropped third strike and scoring on a two-out double by Madison Cabell for an early 1-0 lead. That lead lasted until the bottom of the inning, when a leadoff walk came around to score on a pair of Fox singles.

The Lady Indians hit a pair of deep flies in the top of the second, both caught in center field, and those were two of the final five balls to leave the infield for the rest of the game for Southampton as King George pitcher Taylor Brandts shut down the Indian offense. The only other threat came in the sixth inning on back-to-back hits from Zoe Dunlow and Kaylee Edwards, but it was too little too late as the Foxes had built up a substantial lead early.

In the fourth inning, the Foxes sent 10 hitters to the plate and six of them came around to score. By the time the third out was recorded the Foxes had stretched their lead to 8-1. There were six hits in the inning and coupled with a trio of mistakes by the ladies, it turned a pitchers duel into a blow-out quickly.

“When we threw the ball around a little bit too much there and they were stroking the ball the way they were, its a bad combination,” said Coach Susan Melbye. “We knew we’d have to play pretty clean today to beat them, and we were doing just that, but a few mistakes snowballed on us and it got away from us.”

“I am real proud of the girls tonight, they played their hearts’ out. We just couldn’t get a ball to find the grass on that pitcher. She (Brandt) was tough out there today,” she added.

The Foxes added a pair of runs in the fifth to close their scoring and the final score was 10-2. The Lady Indians finish their season at 14-4 and say goodbye to a pair of seniors in Brickhouse and Emily Nelson.

“It’s tough to say goodbye to these two great leaders. But they will do great at their next stops; Emily at Ferrum and DeMone` at Virginia State. They will both go in and contribute right away with those softball programs. I’m so proud of both of them — moving on to play ball at the collegiate level,” praised Melbye.

In conclusion, she said, “As tough as it is to get through Monday’s loss and ending to the season, there is a silver lining and bright future in store for Southampton softball. As for our younger kids, and we have a huge group of juniors this year and a huge group of 8th graders coming up—I hope they take it on themselves as a challenge to get better this off season and push themselves to get back here and get even further.”

“I know that we can accomplish that for sure.”