By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

SPRING GARDEN – After an 11-inning softball marathon with Cedar Bluff on Wednesday, Sand Rock softball coach Josh Bates didn’t know what to expect less than 24 hours later at Spring Garden.

It turns out the Lady Wildcats still had plenty of fight left in them.

Sand Rock tallied 10 hits and scored runs in the top of the first, third, and fifth through seventh innings to earn an 11-2 victory.

“You never know how your team will respond after a game like yesterday when you fight for 11 innings,” Bates said. “I felt like we came out and played hard. I talked to them how that could be a setting later down the road in the area tournament, regional tournament. You’ve got to play your guts out and turn around and play the next day. It was good experience for us, a good chance for us to get some reps.”

Macy Martin tossed four scoreless innings for the Lady Wildcats (10-4). She allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts through five innings before being relieved by Emma Sipsy in the sixth.

Sipsy pitched the final two innings, allowing three hits with a pair of strikeouts.

“Macy did a good job keeping them off-balance, and our defense played well behind her when they put it in play,” Bates said.

Sipsy also contributed at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs, and a RBI. Molly Grace Lay went 3-for-5 with two runs and a RBI.

Alyvia McMichen was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Aubie Camp went 2-for-4 with with a run and two RBIs.

Olivia Messer led the Lady Panthers (1-4) at the plate by going 2-for-3. Kylie Bates contributed a hit and drove in a run. Ava Boatner, Ellie Miller, Paisley Woodall, and Maya Jennings each finished with a hit.

Kendall Birchfield suffered the loss. She finished with three walks and two strikeouts.

“It’s like we’re always working from behind,” Spring Garden coach Ann Welsh said. “We’ve got a lot of people in new positions, but that’s not an excuse to me. We’ve got to learn it. We’ve practiced it. We’ve just got get out here and show people what we’re made of.

“It just seems like we find an inning here and there. We haven’t learned to carry that over and carry that out on defense. We’ve just got to keep working at it. They work hard at practice, but we’ve got to get it to roll over in the game.”