Tigers, Panthers Split a Sunday

Double headers are better than sharing a sprinkle-covered banana split with your brother or sister and they don’t like sprinkles. If you are lucky you can eat it all or at the very least half.

Edward Waters wanted to win both games and leave Atlanta 3-0 on the weekend. Well, we don’t always get what we want. Clark Atlanta decided the sprinkles weren’t a deal breaker and grabbed the morning half.

Tamia Polk singled with bases loaded to cap Clark Atlanta’s four-run rally in the bottom of the final inning to give the Lady Panthers their first conference win of the 2025 season.

“The walks and the errors,” reflected Clark Atlanta’s head coach Nicole Bayona on Edward Waters rallying to win on Saturday. “We only have 10 girls It’s just about them believing in each other and knowing this is us -this us 10-11 this is what we got so make it work with what we have.”

They made it work in the a.m. session.

Coach Bayona sent her right fielder Gerielle Hoke to the mound for game 2. The freshman from Newton High School in neighboring Covington, GA understood the assignment pitching a complete game and giving up only four earned runs. The defense backed her up throwing out seven runners.

The Lady Panthers’ bats came alive after being relatively silent in game one. Eight players hit safely in the game. Shemia Clady, Johannas Bentley, and Myia Lambert had multiple hits. Hoke helped herself scoring both times she reached base (walk and a hit). Clark Atlanta stranded six baserunners compared to three left by Edward Waters.

In the rubber match, Edward Waters left no opportunities for late-inning heroics. Kylah Gardner continued torturing the Lady Panthers’ pitching going 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring two runs and driving in a pair. Gardner finished the three-game stretch batting .600 while hitting for the cycle.

Weekend MVP Kylah Gardner, Edward Waters University

Kylah Gardner	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	SB
Game 1	4	1	2	3	0	1	1
Game 2	3	2	1	1	1	0	0
Game 3	3	2	3	2	1	0	0
Totals	10	5	6	6	2	1

The Lady Tigers staked pitcher Shai-Ann Currie with six runs in the first two innings. Brooke Rice cleared the bases in the first with a three-run blast to the parking lot behind the left field fence. Edward Waters sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning. Starting pitcher Bell was replaced by Hoke halfway through with runners at second and third. Holmes scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Newman. Gardner reached first on a walk and kept on walking (slow jog) to second. The stage was set for Hailey Vela with Scott at third and Gardner at second. The shortstop lifted the pitch to the outfield where Hasan was able to track it down and end the inning.

A six-run padding turned out to be all Currie needed.

“Shai-Ann does what Shai-Ann does,” said EWU head coach Mike Ellison of her performance on the mound. “She doesn’t impress anybody with a lot of spin but she is going to locate balls and keep them off balance.

In the second inning, Currie threw five pitches to retire the side – ground out, line out, and a pop-up. She spread out six hits over five innings allowing three runs, two in the Lady Panthers’ final at-bat.

The Lady Panthers cracked the goose egg in the third. Andreya Hunter was off to the races on contact scoring easily on Sierra Lopez’s double to left centerfield. Bentley grounded out to end the inning.

After retiring in order in the third, Edward Waters rung up another three runs in the fourth to take a 9-1 lead. Jamiah Holmes led off the inning with a line drive that got under the diving glove of MaKyla Bell in right. The speedy Holmes scored on a trick play carried out by Laura Scott. Scott never stopped at first after getting a base on balls. In the confusion, the throw from Lopez was mishandled allowing Holmes to score. A throwing error allowed Kaylah Newman to reach first base while Scott rounded third and scored. Dazha Durand’s double to the gap sent Gardner across the plate.

Gardner delivered RBIs in the fifth for the second time in two days. Her double to left center allowed Holmes and Jodee Matos to score easily. She credited her success at the plate to what her coach preaches, “Calm down, take my time, and see the ball hit the bat.”

To their credit, the Lady Panthers tried to mount a rally to prolong the game. Bell led off the inning with a walk and reached third on a single from the ever-present Hunter. Bentley sent a screamer to the fence in left-center scoring both baserunners. Alas, it was not to be as the next batter flied out to deep center.

Clark Clark Atlanta’s Weekend Stars			Edward Waters’ Weekend Stars
Andreya Hunter BA: .444, 4 Hits, 2 runs			Laura Scott BA: .333, 4 runs, 3 hits, 1 rbi, dbl
Sierra Lopez BA: .444, 4 Hits, 1 run, 2 rbi’s			Brooke Rice BA: .300, 1 HR, 4 rbi’s,
Johannas Bentley BA: .428, 3 Hits, 1 run, 4 rbi’s. 26 put outs.			Kaylah Newman 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 3 rbi’s

Clark Atlanta

	*Player*	AB	R	H	*RBI*	BB	SO	*LOB*	2B	3b	HR	PO
SS	Hunter, Andreya	9	2	4	1	1	2	3	0	0	0	5
2B	Clady, Shemia	10	1	3	1	0	1	6	0	1	0	5
C	Lopez, Sierra	9	1	4	2	0	1	6	2	1	0	5
1B	Bentley, Johannas	7	1	3	4	3	2	1	1	0	0	26
LF	Hasan, Rasheedah	6	2	0	1	3	1	1	0	0	0	3
3B	Lambert, Myia	9	0	2	0	1	4	2	0	0	0	3
RF/P	Hoke, Gerielle	8	2	2	0	1	3	3	0	0	0	0
CF	Polk, Tamia	6	1	1	1	2	2	1	0	0	0	10
P/RF	Bell, MaKyla	4	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
RF	Eva Dobie	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	22	11	20	11	12	20	5	3	2	0	57

Edward Waters

pos	*Player*	AB	R	H	*RBI*	BB	SO	*LOB*	2B	3B	HR	PO
DH	Laura Scott	9	4	3	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	3
2B	Kaylah Newman	10	2	2	3	1	0	3	0	0	0	5
RF	Kylah Gardner	10	5	6	6	2	1	2	1	1	1	2
C	Brooke Rice	10	1	3	4	1	1	2	0	0	0	19
SS	Vela Hailey	7	1	0	0		1	3	0	0	0	4
CF	Dazha Durand	6	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	3
1B	Victoria Miterko	5	1	2	1	1	0	4	0	0	0	12
PR\LF	Jamiah Holmes	3	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
3B	Jodee Matos	5	2	1	0		0	0	0	0	0	1
LF	Olivia Garci	4	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3
LF	Miah Jordan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
LF	Aisha Joy Duncan	2	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
P	Keivana Durand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
P	Riley Kapparis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	69	21	22	19	6	4	5	4	2	2	54