By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The MCMS Softball team competed in their end-of-the-year tournament last weekend at Heritage Park. They placed second in the tournament after beating Carver Middle 15-0 and Loganville 7-6 in the preliminary rounds but losing to Youth Middle 2-10 in the final round of play.
Morgan County got off to a great start for the first game with a 15-0 victory over Carver Middle School that lasted less than three full innings.
When the Bullpups came to bat in the bottom of the first, they showed Carver that they meant business.
Elizabeth Couch hit a lead-off home run right over the left field fence to start the inning, and the rest of the inning looked more like batting practice than a tournament game. Six more runners scored in the inning, and Morgan County batted through then entire lineup – and then some.
The seven-run lead didn’t satisfy the Bulldogs, however. They scored 5 more runs in the second inning starting with back-to-back RBI doubles by Ansley Dean and Maddie Kinnett.
The other three RBIs of the inning consisted of a single by Avery Kirby, a double by Leah Malcom, and a triple by E. Couch.
At the end of the second inning, the score was 12-0.
In the third inning, Sydney Walker drove in Sarah Couch with an RBI single and then had no problem rounding the bases and coming home after a double by Dean.
Dean scored the last run of the game on a passed ball.
The game ended at 15-0 in the third inning according to the run rule.
Morgan County’s second game of the tournament was a real nail-biter, but the Bullpups beat the Loganville Red Devils 7-6.
The Bullpups got a three-run lead in the first inning thanks in large part to an RBI double by Bryanna Mims that brought two runners home.
Alisha Ellis, who threw a whopping 153 pitches over the course of the day, was able to keep the Red Devils’ batters at bay until the third inning, when they were able to tie the score 3-3.
An RBI double by S. Couch broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth, but Loganville, never straying far behind, tied the game at 4 in the top of the fifth.
Again, the Bullpups were able to go ahead in the bottom of the inning by scoring two more runs.
Befitting Loganville’s mascot, the scoreboard read 6-6-6 as the Red Devils’ offense, who had been knocking on victory’s door all day, tied the game yet again in the top of the sixth.
The Bullpups scored once more in the bottom of the sixth, and they just had to hold the Red Devils in the top of the seventh to win.
The first batter for Loganville hit a ball straight to E. Couch for the first out of the inning, but the second batter reached when she was hit by a pitch.
With the tying run on base, there was tension on the field and in the stands, but the batter hit a fly ball to Kirby, who was able to throw it to Kinnett forcing out the runner that left first base with tagging up, ending the game on a breathtaking double play, 7-6.
Unfortunately, the Bullpups lost the championship game of the tournament to the Youth Middle School Warriors 2-10.
The Warriors scored first in the bottom of the second inning, making the score 0-5 and giving the Bullpups a lot of ground to cover if they were going to catch up.
A coach from Social Circle rooting for Morgan County said, “It’ll be hard to come back from that – we didn’t.” Social Circle had been knocked out of the tournament by a 1-9 loss against Youth in their previous game.
Morgan County was able to score two runs in the top of the third. Ultimately, they would be the only runs scored by the Bullpups in this game.
Youth scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth and then three more in the bottom of the fifth, including a two-run homer by the Warriors’ pitcher.
The runs in the bottom of the fifth gave the Warriors an eight-run lead, which was enough to end the game according to the run rule.
The final score of the game was 2-10.
This was the last event of the Middle School softball team’s season. After the game, the team and coaches took to the field again to pose around their well-deserved trophy from the tournament.
Next year, there will be new faces on the team for the Middle School in the ever-changing roster that is necessitated by school sports, but their trophy will be a timeless reminder of what this team was able to do this year. Congratulations.

Printed in the October 4th edition.