Ecru – One a day that Mother Nature turned Ecru into Mudville, Houlka saw a 5-1 lead fade away as the New Albany Lady Bulldogs picked up their third straight win in the form an 8-5 victory over the Lady Wildcats in the North Pontotoc Lady Vikings Tournament this past Saturday.
New Albany got things started in the first inning when Kelsey Hodges scored on a single to left from Tootie Jones, but the 1A Lady Wildcats did not back down in the face of the 4A Lady Dawgs.
A double off the centerfield wall by Courtney Woodard highlighted the second inning for the Lady Cats as they clawed their way to a 3-1 edge. Woodard scored on a RBI ground out from Tiffany Hobson, Young scored when Collumns reached on a throwing error by the third baseman. Zachary scored when what appeared to be a great play when the New Albany centerfielder robbed Cox of a single to end the inning, but the home plate umpire reversed the call allowing the run to count.
Candiace McIntosh smashed a shot deep over the wall in right for a solo home run to put New Albany in a 4-1 hole through three innings of play.
The Lad Dawgs got back in the ballgame when Zachary started losing control of her pitches as the rain picked up in the fifth inning when a trio of walks loaded the bases for New Albany.
Jones drove in her second run of the day when she reached on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop. Brooke Sides score when Ellen Tarrant reached on an two-out error by to cut the Lady Cats lead to 4-3 with bases loaded. Paige Zahller tied the game when she scored on a single to right by Amber Mirfield and Jones gave the Lady Dawgs their first lead of the contest on a when Jalanna Cameron legged out a infield single to keep the inning alive. Carrie Spencer gave New Albany an insurance run when she drove in Tarrant on a single to right.
McIntosh tried to spark a rally for the Lady Cats with a double off the wall in center, but Cameron induced the next two batters into ground outs to escape the inning with no damage done.
New Albany tacked on a pair of insurance runs when Sides scored on a Zahller single to right and Kelsey Hodges scored on single to left by Jones before time was called giving the Lady Dawgs the 8-4 come-from-behind victory.
Houlka picked up a 4-0 win over Ripley on Friday and dropped an 11-4 decision to tournament host North Pontotoc on Saturday.
Click here for photos from Houlka vs New Albany – available for purchase!
