Moss wins pitchers’ duel enroute to no-hitter

Holmes County entered the district tournament as the number one seed with a first round bye. 

The Lady Devils awaited Monday night’s winner between Ponce De Leon and Bethlehem to determine who they would face for their first game on Tuesday night.  

Ponce De Leon would come out on top of Bethlehem setting the stage for the intra-county matchup between the Lady Devils and Lady Pirates and a rematch of last years district semifinal game.  The Lady Devils would prove to be too much for PDL as they got solid pitching from Marissa Barnes and an offensive explosion in the bottom of the first inning as they plated 12 runs to leave little doubt as to what the eventual outcome would be.  The Lady Devils would come out on top by a score of 14-1 in the game shortened to five innings by the run-rule. 

Barnes would allow hits to just two PDL players as Carmen Jones had a first inning double and a fourth inning single while Lindy Motley had a third inning single.  The only other Lady Pirates to manage to reach base were compliments of a pair of Barnes free passes.  

Offensively the Lady Devils got input up and down their lineup lead by Karson McGowan who ended up with a triple shy of the cycle as she stroked a single and homerun in the first inning and added a double in the second inning.  Lacey Goddin added a pair of hits including a first inning single and a homerun of her own in the second inning.  Faith McGowan and Harley Peel both added a pair of singles as Kiersten Womble added a double.  Marah Harrison and Kennady Nelson each had singles.  

Barnes finished the night with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks as she sent her team to the championship game.  

The Moose was on the loose Thursday night in the District 2 1A softball championship game in Vernon.  Morgan Moss, affectionately known as “Moose”, got the nod in the circle and tossed a complete game no-hitter against the Freeport Lady Bulldogs to lead the Holmes County High School Lady Devils to their third straight district championship.

Moss entered the circle with determination and laser sharp focus.  It was apparent early on Moss’ performance would be just as sharp as her focus as she was in complete control from the first pitch as she faced just two batters over the minimum. One Lady Bulldog would reach base in the first inning on a seven pitch walk and another would reach base on a third inning Lady Devils’ miscue.  The rest of the Lady Bulldogs would go down in order as Moss struck out eight Lady Bulldog batters. 

Fortunately for the Lady Devils Moss blanked the Lady Bulldogs as the Lady Devils were only able to manage one unearned run for themselves against Auburn University at Montgomery signee Sydni Free who was stingy with the hits herself.  Free allowed a single to Kennedy Nelson and a single and walk to Lacey Goddin.  Nelson would score the game’s only run in the fifth inning after reaching on a single and advancing to third on a throwing error.  Tiffany Barnes drove her in on a ground out to the right side of the infield. Moss would close out the game in the seventh inning by inducing a ground out and collecting a pair of strikeouts to give the Lady Devils the 1-0 win and compete the three-peat.  

Moss has had to be the workhorse for the Lady Devils in the circle in the second half of the season after the injury bug struck the Lady Devils’ pitching corp requiring Moss to make appearances in 18 of the Lady Devils’ contest tossing over 1500 pitches.  However, Moss has been up to the challenge as she has tallied 112 strikeouts while being credited with over half of the Lady Devils’ wins.  Fortunately for the Lady Devils Moss saved her best performance for Thursday night.

The Lady Devils move on to the Regional Semi-Finals Thursday night at home against Paxton with the winner advancing to the Regional Championship game.