Effingham County High School

Early offense sparks Lady Rebels past rivals

South Effingham High School at Effingham County High School

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In the grand scheme of things, Tuesday night’s win put the Effingham County Lady Rebels back in the race for the No. 1 spot in the Region 2-AAAA (B) softball race.

The Lady Rebels posted an early lead and held off the South Effingham Lady Mustangs 4-1 Tuesday night at Rebel Field.

The win — the seventh straight for Effingham — upped the Lady Rebels’ record to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the subregion. The loss dropped South Effingham (8-3 overall) to 4-1 in the subregion. Greenbrier, at 5-0, is atop the subregion.

“It’s a big region win is what it boils down to,” Lady Rebels coach Matt Huntley said. “It’s nice to beat your county rival. But when the season is said and done, it’s another region win.”

Maddie Evans’ one-out double in the bottom of the first inning drove in two runs to stake the Lady Rebels and starting pitcher Kendall Usher to an early lead.

“I think that swung the momentum,” Huntley said. “The momentum stayed with us the entire game after that. The girls got that itch to get rolling early.”

Effingham County struck for two more runs in the third inning. Kacee Page started the rally with a single, and Morgan Smith followed with a double. Bridget Devlin brought in a run with a sacrifice fly and back-to-back errors.

“We got beat in the first two innings,” said South Effingham coach Chuck Smith. “I told them we had to come out ready to go. You’ve got to have that drive like you’re down 0-5 when you come on somebody’s field, and we acted like we were ahead 5-0. Every game, you’ve got to be ready to roll.”

Usher held the Lady Mustangs hitless until Ashton Collins’ bloop single to lead off the fifth inning. South Effingham put runners on second and third with two outs, but Usher struck out Courtney Jenkins to end the threat.

“Kendall was forcing outs and challenging batters,” Huntley said.

Cate Anderson ripped a two-out double down the left field line in the sixth, plating Alexis Mercer to cut the lead to 4-1.

Shelby Zipperer doubled with one out in the seventh, and Frankie Mesmer followed with a single, taking second base on the throw.

But Usher finished with a strikeout and a flyout, getting each out with the tying run at the plate.

“They played well, and we didn’t for a couple of innings,” Smith said. “We had a good situation at the end. We couldn’t find the big hit tonight.”

South Effingham will head to Watkinsville for Oconee County’s tournament this weekend. The Lady Mustangs still have region games with Statesboro, Lakeside-Evans and Greenbrier ahead.

“All this does is put more pressure on us,” Smith said of Tuesday night’s loss.

The Lady Rebels, with a nearly 7-run per game margin of victory in their winning streak, have a series each with Evans and Greenbrier still to play, along with one game against Statesboro.

Effingham will host Greenbrier on Tuesday in a doubleheader.

“We are definitely playing better,” Huntley said. “We hit a little bad spot in the first South game. We’re now in a little bit of a streak.”