The Calhoun City Lady Wildcats won a rain-shortened slow-pitch Calhoun County Tournament on Wednesday after capturing victories over Bruce and Vardaman, their first two wins of the season.
In game one of the tournament between City and Bruce, both teams combined for a total of 30 hits in the eight-inning contest. The Lady Wildcats captured the 8-7 win on the back of strong performances by Conley Langford and Raven Arrington who combined for half of Calhoun City’s runs scored in the contest.
Calhoun City head coach Travis England was pleased with how both his young and veteran players stepped up to give his team its first two wins of the year.
“You can look up and down the lineup, and at some point in time during one of those games, everybody contributed,” England said. “I think some of our younger players came through in key situations, and I think that was the difference for us.”
Game two of the tournament between Calhoun City and Vardaman was called after the sixth inning due to rain, an inning which gave the Lady Wildcats a 13-10 winning decision.
Vardaman led the Lady Wildcats 9-0 after the top of the fourth, but the bottom of the frame saw Calhoun City push across 11 runs to claim an 11-9 lead, a lead they never surrendered. City and Vardaman combined for 27 hits in the six-inning contest.
England stated that wins like these over their in-county rivals are important for his team’s confidence moving forward.
“It is important for pride,” England said. “These girls, they’re friends with those girls on the other teams, so bragging rights, at least for a season, that’s important for them. We had not played well in our jamboree and didn’t play well last week against East Webster, and for them to bounce back and at least get a couple of wins, it does a lot for their confidence.”
The county tournament was Bruce’s first action of the year, giving them an 0-1 record after falling to Calhoun City. The Lady Trojans also fell to South Pontotoc on Monday by a score of 12-2. Vardaman fell to 1-1 before improving to 2-1 on Monday night against French Camp, and Calhoun City improves to 2-1 on the year after losing two unofficial games at the Winona jamboree and dropping a game against East Webster. Calhoun Academy also played its third game of the year on Monday, picking up a win over DeSoto.
Softball scores this week:
Tuesday, Aug. 6:
Vardaman 11, Mooreville 6
East Webster 11, Calhoun City 6
Saturday, Aug. 10:
Calhoun City 8, Bruce 7 (8 innings)
Calhoun City 13, Vardaman 10 (6 innings)
Monday, Aug. 12
Vardaman 4, French Camp 2
Calhoun Academy 6, DeSoto 3
South Pontotoc 12, Bruce 2
