Every year when April extends past March Madness and prep baseball and softball start to blossom, those high school region rivalries get a little more intense.
This was never more evident than Thursday night when the Gulfport Lady Admirals hosted the first-place D’Iberville Lady Warriors in Region 4-7A softball.
On March 19, the two squads went toe-to-toe in D’Iberville and the Lady Warriors came away with a 2-0 win. With the intensity increasing Thursday, the Lady Warriors were able to hold off a determined Gulfport team 4-3 to put an absolute stranglehold on first place in the region, moving to 7-0.
With the score tied at 3 in the fifth inning, Lady Warriors first baseman Olivia Drieling smacked a double past diving Gulfport center fielder Fairley Hall to score Piper Rushing with the winning run and give D’Iberville a 4-3 advantage.
Drieling led D’Iberville at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two stolen bases.
“Our girls just don’t quit. It never matters what’s going on in the game. They’ve done that all year,” said Lady Warriors coach Scooter Prince. “I’m very pleased with how these girls fight. They’ve proven they will battle and battle through adversity and whatever else is going on.”
Emma Franklin was the winning pitcher. Franklin threw a complete game, giving up two earned runs on six hits and striking out four. She struggled early but returned to her normal form and pitched better at the end of the game.
“She had a thumb issue early and was able to settle down and then she just did what Emma does,” he said.
Gulfport took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Haley Hughes and Julianna Espat both walked. After a strikeout, Caroline Woodward hit a fly ball to left, but the runners had to hold in case the ball was caught. It fell safely so the runners advanced and the bases were loaded.
After another strikeout with two outs and the bases still loaded, Gulfport second baseman Marleigh Lowe laced a two-run double to center field.
Hughes, Gulfport’s starting pitcher, gave up three runs and struck out three in four innings. Woodward went the rest of the way, allowing one run on one hit and striking out one.
“We jumped out and had energy early and felt good with our pitchers,” said Gulfport coach Kristi Basso. “We had a pitching game plan coming in and they both stuck to it pretty well. I think both teams had miscues on the basepaths and defensively and it went their way.
“But I’m very proud of our program. We’ve been focusing on changing the energy. We didn’t come out on top tonight, but I love how our team created the energy and stayed with it all night.”
The fourth inning brought out the best in both teams.
Layla Barnes started D’Iberville’s half with a solid line-drive double down the left-field line. Franklin then singled on a ball to the shortstop and Barnes was able to hustle all the way to third.
Catcher Annah Nicely then walked to load the bases and Emma Redding was sent in as a courtesy runner. Rushing hit a fly ball to center that dropped, scoring Barnes and Franklin with Redding moving to third.
After Rushing stole second, Drieling knocked in her first run of the game and D’Iberville went up 3-2.
The lead didn’t last because Gulfport battled right back. Lowe was hit by a pitch to start the Lady Admirals’ fourth. After a flyout, Gulfport third baseman Nadia Butler hit a ball to left and an error on the play allowed Lowe to score.
But Franklin got the next two outs to keep the game tied at 3 and set up the pivotal fifth inning.
Despite the loss, Gulfport maintained its playoff position. The Lady Admirals are in third place at 4-4 in 4-7A. Their final two region games are on Tuesday at Harrison Central and at home against Biloxi on Thursday.
D’Iberville has three region games left. The Lady Warriors will host Ocean Springs on Monday and St. Martin on Tuesday before traveling to Ocean Springs on Thursday.
