By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

SPRING GARDEN – Spring Garden junior catcher Maggie Jarrett didn’t have the best of weekends during the Cherokee Softball Invitational. She wanted to do something about it on Monday against area rival Cedar Bluff.

So Jarrett hit the batting cages with her dad Greg over the weekend and, according to her, she fixed it.

Jarrett went 2-for-4 at the plate, including a towering home run to left field that hit the roof of the Lady Panthers’ hitting facility. She also doubled in Spring Garden’s 10-2 victory.

“Coming in and jumping on them was a big thing,” Jarrett said. “Last weekend we kind of struggled a little bit. We had some good hits, but they weren’t back-to-back. We just knew what we had to do and we came in and did it.”

As Jarrett said, the Lady Panthers (6-3) picked up plenty of hits on a blustery afternoon.

Cedar Bluff (6-6) pushed a run across in the top of the first inning, but Spring Garden countered with a run in the bottom half of the inning, three more in the second, batted around and scored five in the third, and one more in the fourth.

“I was proud of that,” Spring Garden coach Ann Welsh said. “I felt like Saturday we hit the ball, but it was just right at people. A few of us were still kind of doing that today, but I felt like from the top to the bottom of the lineup we hit the ball well.”

But before the Lady Panther bats got to work, Cedar Bluff manufactured a run in the top of the first on a RBI-single to left by Za’Niya Kyle. She brought home Kylie Vadon, who singled to right with one out.

Spring Garden tied the game at a run apiece on a RBI-double to left by Lilly McCain. Her hit brought home Helena Ingram, who reached on a single to center with one out.

After Lady Panther pitcher retired the side in order in the second, Spring Garden struck for three runs, including a two-run single to right by Maggie Reedy. At the end of two inning, Spring Garden held a 4-1 advantage.

The Lady Panthers batted around against Cedar Bluff pitcher Blaklea Hall in the third and scored five runs to put the game out of reach. Jarrett led off the inning with her solo shot to left. Rylie Ham later added a two-run double to center and Steward delivered a two-run single to center to push Spring Garden’s lead to 9-1 after three.

Cedar Bluff scored a run in the top of the fourth on a single to left by Kaylyn Vadon. Spring Garden added a run in the bottom half of the inning for the final.

Steward picked up the win in the circle for Spring Garden. She gave up two earned runs on 11 hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Word helped save Steward from giving up any more runs on a pair of solid defensive plays in the outfield.

Hall suffered the loss for the Lady Tigers. She tossed four innings and gave up five earned runs on 11 hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Mackenzie Kimmons relieved Hall in the fifth and worked the final two innings.

Kylie and Kaylyn Vadon and Ciana Smith each had a pair of hits at the plate for the Lady Tigers.

Cedar Bluff travels to Hokes Bluff on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Spring Garden hosts Faith Christian, also on Tuesday at 5 p.m.