COURTLAND
The Southampton Lady Indians may have started the 2015 campaign off with two-consecutive losses to Greensville County and Colonial Heights, but manager Amy Davis isn’t discouraged.

“I anticipate a great deal of success with this team,” she said. “There were a lot of nerves from a very young team.”

The season-opener got off to a rough start, by Davis’ admission, when a combination of mental mistakes, errors and hits allowed the Eagles to jump out to a 7-run lead. The Indians stormed back late in Tuesday’s contest, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 9-7.

“There were a lot of nerves from a very young team in that first game,” she said of the 9-7 loss to the Eagles.”When we settled down, our defensive game was strong. We just need to get the bats going and the victories will come.”

Sophomore Savannah Nipper was 3 for 4 at the plate, knocking in four RBIs in the loss.

“I expect a lot of improvements from this point forward,” Davis added.

The team returned to the diamond on Wednesday afternoon, traveling to Colonial Heights to for another intraconference matchup. A much better all-around effort was for naught, though, as the Minutemen walked off with a 5-4 victory in the bottom of the eight inning.

Nipper got things started in the top of the second inning with a run-scoring double, and Kelby Lewis brought her home for a two-run lead. The home squad tied things up in the bottom of the third, and took the lead with another two-run frame in the fifth.

Down to their final three outs, the Indians tied the game at four apiece in the top of the seventh inning. An inning later, the Minutemen crossed the plate for the game-winning walk-off score.

Nipper went 2 for 4 with a double, and Kelby Lewis added three hits and a triple for the Lady Indians.

“A much better all-around team effort than our first game, but still, lots of room for improvement,” Davis said.