BROOKHAVEN — Cathedral (7-2) led 1-0 going into the seventh inning but a walk tied the game and forced extra innings. In the ninth inning, Brookhaven Academy sophomore Miriam Wallace stepped up to the plate and became a hero delivering an RBI single. 

Brookhaven Academy won the game 4-3 to improve to 10-2. 

Wallace said the single snapped a hitting slump for her. It was a pitch to the inside and was likely a curveball, she said. The ground ball to the right side was her only hit of the game. 

“It felt good. I hadn’t been hitting well so it felt good to break the steak. I had gotten down on myself but now I have the confidence at the plate,” Wallace said. “For us this game keeps us hyped and tells us we need to work hard to win. We were ready tonight but we didn’t have the hits we needed early in the game. We broke it open late.” 

It was a tight game from the start with excellent pitching. Cathedral starting pitcher Lily Crum allowed just four hits in 8.2 innings pitched. She struck out 11 batters and did not give up a run until the seventh inning. 

Brookhaven Academy’s pitcher Kensey Covington pitched eight innings of work striking out seven batters and allowing just two runs to score on eight hits. She had some great defense behind her. Neither team committed an error in the game. 

One of the best defensive plays of the night came from Cathedral’s third baseman Kinslee Young who snagged a pop up and threw a base runner out at first. Young had the Green Wave’s only run in regulation on a solo home run in the second inning. She also had a double in the eighth inning to help the Green Wave take a 3-1 lead. Brookhaven Academy scored three unanswered runs in the eighth and ninth innings to win the game. 

“We came here wanting to win. We knew that Brookhaven Academy has always been good. It didn’t end as we wanted but we know we can play with them,” Young said. “It is a measuring game to measure us to see how we would do going against one of the four teams going to state. I think everyone was excellent. Lily, our pitcher, held it down for us as long as we could.” 

Brookhaven Academy found itself down to its last out twice Monday night but managed to overcome the adversity. Once in the seventh inning, Cathedral had a 1-0 lead but two straight walks loaded the bases and forced the tying run to score. 

A wild pitch in the eighth inning with two outs tied the game again for Brookhaven Academy at 3-3. It was a growing game for the Cougars. Wallace said they can still grow this year and have yet to reach their full capability. 

Brookhaven Academy has one senior this year and is still young.

Wallace is a sophomore. She said the team is still young and has two more years to grow and get the kinks worked out. The win over Cathedral will help in the growing process and give her confidence moving forward. 

“It hurts mentally and physically going through a slump. You try so hard to get a hit and it just doesn’t work out,” Wallace said. “I have been swinging hard at the ball trying to make something happen and it finally happened tonight. You have to have confidence. I know I can do it. You never know when you will get a good hit. You have to have confidence at the plate.”