Softball: Bulldoggs drop pair of games to start season

Jackson County broke open a close game late as the Winder-Barrow High School softball team dropped its season opener on the road, 9-5, Monday.
Alexis Valdes led the Bulldoggs at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
Alyssa Bond was 2-for-4 with a double and Rebekah Freeman added two hits.
The Bulldoggs grabbed an early lead in the top of the first when Bond led off with a double and scored on a Valdes double later in the inning.
But Jackson County tied the game in the bottom of the frame and then struck for four in the third. Caroline Davis hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1 and the Panthers added a couple more runs with the benefit of a couple Winder-Barrow errors.
The Bulldoggs pulled a run closer in the sixth when Rose Johnson led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch, but the Panthers responded with four runs in the sixth to break it open.
Winder-Barrow scored three in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Kendal Miller, a single by Bailey Boswell and another bases-loaded walk by Morgan Macaw.
That brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but Panther pitcher Meghan Sorrells got Bond to pop out and Carlee Schotter to ground out to end the game.
Sorrells recorded the save in relief of Sara Beth Allen. Johnson took the loss for Winder-Barrow, allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits with a strikeout in four innings of work.
Jasmine Roberts pitched the final two innings in relief.
The Bulldoggs fell again Tuesday as they were unable to hold a seventh-inning lead, falling 5-4 at Oconee County. Down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Warriors had a pair of hit batsmen and then tied the game on an error and then won it on an infield hit.
Winder-Barrow had grabbed a 4-3 lead in the sixth when Schotter singled in Johnson, but Macaw was tagged out in a rundown between third and home trying to score on the play, which ended the inning.
Valdes was 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs. Bond, Schotter, Freeman and Johnson all had two hits apiece.
The Bulldoggs will return to action Thursday for their home opener against Walnut Grove at 6 p.m.