Fillies continue to roll with two wins

TIFTON – Unlike the Stallions baseball team, the Fillies have had all of their game on the road, which continued this past weekend in Marianna, located in the Panhandle. On Saturday they matched up with Thomas Jefferson with the winning result being 9-0, and the final win coming the following day against Colombia by the score of 3-2. 

The Fillies team will finally get to return to campus with the home-opener this afternoon against Thomas University JV at 4:00PM. 

As for the first win of the weekend, both teams were held scoreless in the first frame. 

Haley Dobson and Kali Price tacked the first two hits on the board for the Fillies. Two walks by Olivia Carter and Savannah Gabriel followed in the inning, but the offense came up just short of scoring the first runs of the game. 

Kameron Coggins would make her fourth appearance in the circle for the visiting Fillies, as she recorded the final first outs of the inning herself with strikeouts. 

Scoreless after one complete, Sydney Vaughn connected on the first pitch of her at-bat to lead off the second inning with a double. Vaughn would go to third on a ball hit on the ground by Victoria Jordan, and would score the first ABAC run on a Thomas Jefferson error. Dobson would put the ball in play following the first out of the frame, giving another opportunity to the Fillies. Jordan would try to score the second run of the inning after reaching third on the previous error, but was called out at the plate for the second out. ABAC led early 1-0. 

Coggins would only allow just one batter to reach base in the bottom half on a walk, and another Coggins strikeout to end the inning got the Fillies offense back to the plate. 

The Fillies would continue to press to try to get more runs on the board, and the third inning was a big momentum boost for the offense. In the inning, ABAC batted through the order, which in total saw eleven batters and seven runs total. ABAC started on the bases reaching on another mishap by the defense, where Taylor Corbett reach first. The inning was highlighted by a double by Savannah Gabriel, a stolen base by Bailey Leger, a single by Victoria Jordan, a stolen base by Elizabeth Massingill, a double by Hayley Dobson, and a groundout by Kali Price. Seven hits total in the inning gave ABAC an 8-0 lead. 

Coggins would pitch one more inning for Fillies, and the game would see one more run for the offense. 

Gabriel would score the final run after leading off the fourth inning. Vaughn singled, and Jordan also collected a hit to score Vaughn. 

Skylar Dorough would come in relief of Coggins in the fifth to hold the home team off the board to give ABAC its third win on the year. 

ABAC would fall in a tough 3-0 decision in game two on Saturday against Northwest Florida, where one run in the first frame and two in the last were enough for the opposing team. 

On Sunday, the Fillies would get back on track in their first game against Colombia. 

The game was tied at two with the Fillies batting in the top of the fifth when Carter singled, driving in Dobson. Dobson started off the inning with a single. 

Coggins was on point in the circle, picking up the win, while striking out nine. 

• In the second win for the Fillies they collected eight hits. 

Head Coach Jen Martinez had this to say about the performance of the team over the weekend, "Our team is continuing to get better and better. We've had a strong pre season schedule with us playing some hard teams. Which will definitely help us come conference. Defensively our team is the strongest it has been in a while. Offensively, we did much better this weekend adjusting to different speeds of the pitcher. We had timely hitting when we needed it and played the short game very well." 

 "In the circle, freshman Kameron Coggins is our ace. She has consistently been strong and she will be a huge factor in our success this season." She added.

By: J. Roy Rowland IV, Sports Correspondent