By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Sept. 9, 2003
MADDEN Sometimes things just don't go the way you'd like them to and Monday afternoon's fast-pitch softball game was one of those moments for the Leake Academy Lady Rebels.
Ranked fifth in the state by The Clarion-Ledger, the Leake girls were primed to knock off No. 1 Hillcrest Christian School of Jackson and make their Senior Day really something special.
Hillcrest's Lady Cougars like their top billing just fine and made sure they'd keep it with a 12-1 victory over Leake.
Hillcrest improved to 26-3, and Leake fell to 8-6, as the last home game for 2003 didn't come off as planned.
Tied at one after one inning, Hillcrest took advantage of numerous Leake errors in the second inning to grab an 8-1 lead.
The Lady Cougars added three more runs in the third on an RBI double to the fence by catcher Laura Lee Reese, a transfer from Clinton, and a two-run single by Kimberly George.
George added an RBI single in the top of the fifth.
Leake got its only run in the first inning, as Sarah James beat out an infield hit and scored following a single by Anna Lisa Posey and an error on Mandy Dennis' shot.
Leake split a pair of one-run games with Jackson Prep and lost a one-run decision to Washington.
Mallory Hambrick (17-3) got the win for Hillcrest, striking out seven in the five-inning contest.
Posey (6-4) got the loss. In her career, the senior has won 40 games. Ashton Agent, another of Leake's three seniors, went into the day with 118 career stolen bases.
Reese, the top hitter in Clarkdale's Spring Fling in March as a member of the Clinton Lady Arrows, had three hits. George had two singles and three RBIs. Shortstop Tiffany Diamond, a transfer from Terry, had two singles.
Caroline Dees singled for Leake's other hit.