FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — North Laurel Senior Bella Sizemore turned in one heck of a day at the plate while teammate Tessa Monhollen shined in the pitcher’s circle, leading the Lady Jaguars to a 4-2 win over Eastern on Thursday.
Sizemore went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored while Monhollen turned in a complete game effort, allowing only two hits and two earned runs while striking out 10 batters.
North Laurel (8-2) built a 4-0 advantage after three innings of play before Eastern added two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Katie Sams finished with a hit and two RBI while Emma Carl had a hit and a run scored. Saige McClure finished with a hit along with Bella Finley. Katie Keen scored once in the win.
“Nice win today against a very good Eastern team,” North Laurel coach Chris Edwards said. “Only seven hits today but four of them were extra base hits and they came from five different players. Three of those came from Bella Sizemore, including a home run. We are seeing the ball pretty well right now but we are not stringing hits together. That’s because of the teams we are playing and the pitching we are seeing. The pitcher from Eastern hadn’t given up very much this season and she didn’t again today.
“On the other side, our pitching was great today,” he added. “Tessa had a no hitter into the seventh. A couple of walks and a couple of hits got them on the board but she was able to shut them down for basically the entire day. She was great today. Defense was perfect again today also with no errors.
“I’m really proud of the girls and how we played down here,” Edwards continued. “We were just a couple of hits away from having a better record down here than we ended up with. We came down here to see good pitching and good teams. We certainly done that. We came down here to get better individually and as a team. Time will tell but I think that’s happened also. Overall a good trip. Looking forward to a couple of days of sun and relaxation and then everyone getting home safely and getting right back to it. Go Jags.”
