By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Charles W Saunders Cougars scored enough runs early and held off the late surge by the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine to stay undefeated and clinch game one of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools junior girls’ best-of-three softball championship series.

Yesterday at the Charles W Saunders High School, the Cougars prevailed with an 11-8 win after surging ahead 10-0 in what could have been a three-inning affair.

The Big Red Machine, refusing to give up, fought until the end, but it was a little too late.

“The first game was good. We had a little bit of flaws and our pitching started to fall apart, but we were still able to come off with the win,” said Charles W Saunders’ head coach Brad Wood Jr. “The performance by our girls was good, but we could play better.”

Wood Jr, who was assisted by his father Brad Wood Sr, relied on the battery mate of twin sisters, pitcher Dorinda and catcher Miranda Knowles, along with their older sister, first sacker Brianna Knowles, to get the job done.

The siblings were responsible for the Cougars’ three runs in the first inning.

In the second inning, three along with left fielder Sanayai Nesbitt, designated player Zody Rodgers, right fielder Nevaeh Nairn, shortstop V Rolle and centre fielder Reghan Ingraham produced seven more runs to push their lead to 10-0.

As they drew close to stopping the game via the 10-run rule in the third, the Big Red Machine responded as catcher Diore-Rae Scott and second sacker Hadassa Newry came through with a pair of runs to extend the game.

In the fourth, centre fielder C Russell, left fielder Hannah Ritchie, Scott, Newry and shortstop Antonicia Moultrie all produced a game to cut the deficit to 10-8.

Then in the fourth, Miranda Knowles came through with her third run to extend the Cougars’ lead to the final deficit.

SAC had a final score to score in the fifth, but after Russell got on with a two-out error, she was left stranded as Charles W Saunders got the final out and the celebrations began on the field.

Obviously, it wasn’t what SAC’s head coach Rebecca Moss expected and it showed in the final score.

“We had a very slow start in the first two innings,” said Moss, who was assisted by Dawn Johnson. “The girls came back and fought hard in the last three innings. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. But overall, I was pleased with the performance.”

As they look ahead to game two, Wood Jr said they are going to stick with what got them the victory in game one.

“We ain’t changing nothing,” he said. “SAC hasn’t seen our strongest pitcher yet. I may go with her, just as I may not. But I don’t plan on changing a thing.”

Moss said they will continue to fight and hopefully the momentum at the end of the game will carry over.

“We have to continue hitting and be more aggressive attacking the ball,” she said. “We still have a chance to win. We’re going to be playing at home.”

Game two is scheduled for 3:30pm Thursday at St Augustine’s College.

SAC, with four teams in the championships, suffered another loss at SAC as their senior boys lost 14-12 to the Queen’s College Comets. Game two in that series will be played at Queen’s College on Thursday as well.

Today, SAC will host Queen’s College in their junior boys’ series after losing game one 2-1 at Queen’s College on Monday.

SAC will also host the St John’s Giants in game two of the senior girls’ series. The Giants took the early lead with a 6-5 decision.