HUNTSVILLE– The Kiwanis Sportsplex was jam-packed with rowdy players and fans alike for the start of the north regional Softball Tournament Thursday morning, but none were as rowdy as the Lady Bearcats of Cullman.
Cullman jumped on the Brewer Lady Patriots early and often, well, as often as Mother Nature would allow, as the two teams had to endure a pair of delays due to lightning, but that didn’t stop the Lady Cats from throwing a little lighting into their sticks. Claire Jenkins earned Cullman’s first base runner, drawing a walk. She quickly moved into scoring position on a Brewer wild pitch. Taiya Ponder was next up and she ripped a single through the infield and moved to second with a stolen base. Sierra Easterwood grounded out to second but picked up the RBI when Jenkins came home to score. It was three pitches into Hannah Morton’s at bat when the umpires pulled the players off the field due to lightning.
Thirty minutes after the bolt of lightning lit up the sky, the two teams were back at it and Cullman picked up right where they left off. Morton finished her at bat, earning a base on balls. Two batters later, McKensi Burks singled in Morton to cap a three-run inning.
The Lady Cats would add two more unearned runs in the second before blowing the game wide open in the third. Cullman was very patient at the plate, earning 13 total walks on the day, two of which came with the bases loaded earning RBIs for Easterwood and Morton in the third. The Lady Cats pushed across four runs in the frame before the second weather delay cleared the field with Cullman up 9-0.
The Lady Cats would go on to win the contest by a final score of 11-1, earning the right to face Athens and take one more step toward the state tournament in Montgomery.
