Lady Tigers compete in Carthage Tourney
Tim Emmons
Linden-Kildare’s Lady Tigers softball team competed in the Carthage Tourney starting on Thursday, Feb. 14, and ending play on Saturday, Feb. 16.
The Tigers are ranked 5th in class 2A by the Texas Girls Softball Association and prepared for the season by taking part in the Carthage Tourney and playing some quality teams in the process.
The Lady Tigers started out playing West Rusk at 5 p.m. on Thursday, and won in strong fashion over the Lady Raiders 8-1. Holding on to a slim 2-1 lead after two innings, L-K broke the game wide open with a four-run fourth inning and never looked back.
Shardai Love was 2-for-3 which included a single, teammate Amiyah Brown was 2-for-2 and Baleigh west was 2-for-4 from the plate.
TeAnn Elliott pitched four strong innings, giving up only three hits, one earned run and had four strikeouts. Megan Kirkland pitched a couple of shutout innings for the Lady Tigers.
In the second game of Thursday night, L-K took on host Carthage and lost a hard fought game 9-4. The Lady Bulldogs scored six big runs in the second inning to distance themselves from L-K.
Shardai Love, Caitlin Grider, Amiyah Brown and Meagan Kirkland each had hits for the Lady Tigers, and TeAnn Elliott went the distance on the mound for L-K giving up nine runs, six of those earned, on just six hits. Love hit her second triple of the night in the game against Carthage.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15, L-K took on a team that they put out of the Regional Semifinals last season in the Troup Lady Tigers. Troup got the better of Linden-Kildare this go-around with a 2-1 victory over L-K.
Both pitchers were lights out from the mound, but Troup managed to get one more run across than the Lady Tigers to win the match.
Haylee Smoak, Shardai Love, Caitlin Grider, Baleigh West and TeAnn Elliott had hits for L-K. Although Elliott gave up two earned runs, she was solid throughout the rest of the evening with five strikeouts and only one walk.
In game two, Linden-Kildare scored five runs in one inning and cruised to a 5-3 decision over Garrison. Shardai Love and Caitlin Grider were both 2-for-3 from the box, and the Lady Tigers added hits from Lexi Loizeaux, Haylee Smoak, TeAnn Elliott and Megan Kirkland.
Elliott again went the distance for L-K with three runs earned, off of nine hits scattered and two strikeouts.
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, Troup handed the Lady Tigers another loss, this time a 5-0 shutout.
Shardai Love, Megan Kirkland, Baleigh West, Haylee Smoak and Shenari Green each had one hit in the contest for L-K. TeAnn Elliott pitched all six innings for the Lady Tigers and gave up five runs, on seven hits and walked four.
At noon L-K finished the tourney with a narrow 4-3 extra-inning loss to Spring Hill.
Linden-Kildare had the game in hand before the Lady Panthers blasted three runs in the fifth inning to tie the game up. After both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning, the game went into extra innings.
The Lady Tigers couldn’t push across any runs in the top of the seventh inning, but Spring Hill had a walk-off hit against TeAnn Elliott to seal the victory.
Shardai Love and Baleigh West were both 2-for-3 from the plate, and Elliott, Megan Kirkland, Caitlin Grider and Amiyah Brown each had hits for L-K.
Megan Kirkland pitched five innings and gave up three runs, on five hits and had four strikeouts. Elliott came in to pitch the latter part of the game and walked two batters, gave up two hits and one run.
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