Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Eustace’s Sadie Jo Long slides safely ahead of Malakoff third baseman Camryn Gaddis’ tag.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Madilyn Andrews of Eustace, who led her team on the mound, slaps a single in the second against Malakoff.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Malakoff’s Alabama Anding, who also pitched, bunts in the second inning of the March 29 Eustace game.

MALAKOFF–Two District 18-3A softball squads squared off March 29, as the Malakoff Lady Tigers on Senior Day scored four runs in the sixth inning to help beat the Eustace Lady Bulldogs, 10-1, which kept Malakoff within striking distance of a district title.
The Lady Tigers struck first in the initial inning, when Kylie Miller doubled in Alabama Anding and Ava Perkins for a 2-0 Malakoff lead. Eustace pitcher Madilyn Andrews got out of the inning with three consecutive strikeouts, leaving Malakoff runners on second and third.
In the second inning, Malakoff pitcher Anding also ended an offensive threat with two in scoring position (including a Lexi Thompson double). After that, the Lady Tigers’ offense put two more runs on the board, when Camryn Gaddis’ hard single drove in Kaitlyn Massingill and Perkins.
After 1-2-3 third innings for both pitchers (featuring a diving catch by Eustace second baseman Abigail Warren to rob Malakoff of a hit and move to the fourth), the scoring continued when Perkins scored Malakoff’s fifth run with two outs. Still in the fourth, Gaddis scored on a windswept Eustace error for a 6-0 Lady Tiger lead.
In the top of the sixth, Eustace plated its run when Payton Miller singled to center, scoring Sadie Jo Long. In Malakoff’s bottom half of that inning, a Gaddis sacrifice fly scored Massingill, Miller doubled in Anding and Remi McGuffey singled home Miller to increase the Lady Tigers’ advantage to 10-1, all with two outs.