FLORENCE, Ala. – The Good Hope Raiders secured an area championship last week and they were back on the field Tuesday morning at the 4A North Regional Tournament at Coffee O’Neal Park in Florence. The Raiders got the day started with an 11-1 win over Dora and in their second matchup of the day against Hamilton, Good Hope jumped out to an early lead, but the Aggies came from behind to defeat the Raiders 3-2.
Good Hope 11 – Dora 1 (Game One)
Lizzy Steed led off the bottom of the first with a triple into center field and Kylee Smith drove her in with a sacrifice fly to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. After a scoreless second inning, Good Hope lit up the scoreboard in the bottom of the third.
Maggie O’Neil drew a leadoff walk and back to back singles from Steed and Smith loaded the bases. A few pitches later, Campbell Koch knocked a 2-run single into left field to make it a 3-0 game and Haley Lay followed with an RBI double to make it 4-0. Molly Benefield kept the momentum going with a 2-run double to left field, stretching the lead to 6-0 and two pitches later, an RBI single off the bat of Natalie Miller gave Good Hope a 7-0 lead. Later in the inning, Steed drove a 2-run double to left field to put the Raiders ahead 9-0 and Smith capped things off with another RBI single to make it 10-0 going into the fourth.
The Bulldogs pushed one run across in the top of the fourth to trim the lead to 10-1 but after a scoreless fifth inning, Good Hope wrapped things up in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff triple from Smith put the winning run on third base and after a single from Koch put runners on the corners, Gracie Bates singled to score Smith and secure an 11-1 win for the Raiders.
Benefield got the start and earned the win after pitching three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six batters. Calleigh Granger pitched the final three innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two. At the plate, Smith and Steed each posted three hits and a pair of RBIs. Benefield and Koch each finished with two and two RBIs as well.
Hamilton 3 – Good Hope 2 (Game Two)
Lizzy Steed and Kylee Smith led off the bottom of the first with back to back singles and later in the inning, Molly Benefield drove them both in to score with a single to center field, giving the Raiders a 2-0 lead going into the second. Both starting pitchers dominated most of the game after that. Good Hope and Hamilton combined for just three hits over the next four innings, but the Aggies were able to break through and score three runs in the top of the sixth to pull ahead 3-2.
The Raiders were unable to answer the late push from Hamilton and the Aggies held on to defeat Good Hope 3-2.
Steed led the Raiders with three hits in the loss. Benefield (two RBIs), Smith and Haley Lay each added a hit as well.
Good Hope will face Cordova in an elimination game on Wednesday at 10:45 a.m.
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