By Becky Taylor
becky.taylor@gaflnews.com
TIFTON — Where will the rapidly-progressing Tift County Lady Devils be at the end of this season? Head coach Jen Walls can only imagine.
On First Responders Night Tuesday, the Lady Devils defeated Class 2A powerhouse Cook, 4-1. Cook entered the contest with a perfect 8-0 record and No. 8 in MaxPreps’ statewide rankings. Tift, which has no seniors on its roster, is now 6-2. The losses were by a run each.
Lily Robinson continued her breakout year with a complete game shutout, plus the double that sparked Tift’s rally in the fourth inning.
“Her poise, her command of the pitches, her confidence,” Walls said. “That goes on to everyone behind her.”
Robinson struck out 11 hitters, including the side in the fifth and seventh. Her counterpart in the circle, Cook’s Abby Griffis, fanned four and only had one baserunner reach outside of the fourth.
Walls raved about the Cook hurler. “Abby is good,” she said.
Cook struck first. Cadence Smith doubled to start the afternoon. A Shaniria McCormick sacrifice bunt brought her to third before Emily Craft’s base hit brought Smith home.
Robinson allowed the visitors nothing after that. A 6-4-3 double play ended the first, Marlee Veazey to Hannah Grace Murphy to Morgan Brey.
No other Lady Hornet runner reached as far as third base after that. The closest came in the third. On the second of back-to-back singles by Annaleigh Weaver and Smith, Weaver decided to test the arm of Riley Williams in left field. That did not work, as a strong throw from Williams saw Ella Bruce put down the tag for the out.
Cook had two runners on the basepaths only one other time. Two strikeouts by Robinson ended the threat.
Murphy put up a battle and walked to lead off the fourth frame. She then stole second and easily scored on Robinson’s double to deep right field. Her courtesy runner, Aubree Hale, moved up on a pitch that got away, then came home on Veazey’s single.
Braylin Dorden’s bat had perfect aim on a single between third and shortstop, putting runners on first and third.
There was one out on a play that Walls could only grin about after the game, that went perfectly for the Lady Devils when it should have gone haywire. “We going to say we planned that,” she said.
Brey popped up on a ball that was dropped on the infield. The chaos saw Cook throw towards second to force out Dorden, but allowing Hale to break for home. Dorden was safe at second and Hale slid in under a tag attempt at the plate.
Tift’s fourth run came on C.B. McCrary’s double, which resulted in another play at home. The ball was knocked loose during the slide and the Lady Devils were up 4-1.
“We made adjustments at the plate,” Walls said.
Cook settled back down after the fourth and did not allow another baserunner. Robinson gave up a single in each of the last three innings but all of the outs being on the infield limited the Lady Hornets’ chances to move up a base.
From here, Tift moves into its Region 1-6A schedule. Lowndes will be in town Aug. 27 and the teams will play a doubleheader in Valdosta Aug. 29.