Loyd Star watched the game slip away early, and they weren’t able to recover as Brookhaven came out with a 11-4 victory Friday in the non-district softball matchup.

The Loyd Star girls’ bats were unable to heat up, as they struggled to put runs on the board. The Lady Panthers took the lead early and showed no signs of cooling down as they took advantage of several errors from the Lady Hornets. Scoring four runs in the seventh inning, the Ole Brook girls put the game away.

“I felt like the game went extremely well for us, “ Lady Panthers senior Rileigh Allen said. “We had a lot of hits and our bats came around really good tonight.”

The Lady Panthers were the first in the scorebook, collecting three runs to start off the game. Sophomore Madi Miller led off with a single into shallow left field. With one out and runners on first and second, Allen brought in the game’s first run in on an RBI double. The Brookhaven girls scored two more runs off of an error.

Loyd Star scored one run in their half of the first. Batting with two outs, Meagan Poole reached second on an error. Marley Poole brought Poole across home plate with her RBI double.

The Lady Panthers added to their lead in the top half of the third, bringing two runs across the plate. Allen led off with a double that found its way into left center field. With two outs, sophomore Kyla Henderson brought Allen across the plate with an RBI double deep into left field. Sophomore Meg Foster followed with an RBI single.

“Jayden pitched well, and defensively we played well,” Lady Panthers sophomore Kyla Henderson said. “We played a good game.”

The Panthers would score one run in their half of the fifth off of an RBI single by Miller and would also score one run in the top half of the sixth off of an RBI single by eighth-grader Kyja Willis.

The Lady Hornets started to rally in the final frame of the sixth, on a couple of errors by the Lady Panthers. But BHS snuffed out the rally in the top half of the seventh, getting four runs across the plate. With two runners on base, Allen brought in a run on a sacrifice fly.

Senior Haley Nations followed with an RBI double. Senior Jayden Fuller also brought in a run with a RBI single. Foster would finish the scoring and the game with an RBI sacrifice, giving the Lady Panthers a 11-4 victory.

“I thought the girls did really good tonight,” Lady Panthers coach Mandy Vinson said. “We’ve been working on seeing pitches a little better at practice and battle with two strikes and they were able to implement tonight in the game.”

Fuller picked up the win for the Lady Panthers, going four innings, while allowing two hits and one run while picking up three strike outs. Nations pitched three innings in relief, allowing three hits and three runs while picking up four strike outs.

Aly Floyd took the loss for the Lady Hornets going five innings, allowing 12 hits and six runs while picking up one strike out. Carson Hughey pitched in relief going two innings, while allowing five hits and five runs while picking up two strike outs.

Henderson led BHS with a double, two singles and one RBI. Allen had a double, single and two RBIs. Nations had a double, single and three RBIs. Fuller had two singles and a RBI. Sophomore Lynsey Nations had two singles. Foster had two singles and two RBIs. Miller and Willis each had two singles and an RBI.

Marley Poole led the Lady Hornets with two doubles, one stolen base, a single and an RBI. Meagan Poole hit two singles and an RBI. Floyd had a single. Johnna Norman finished the game for the Lady Hornets with an RBI.

Story by Dave Linton