By JONATHAN BURROWS

Tribune Sports Reporter

jburrows@tribunemedia.net

THE defending champions Queen’s College Comets soared past the St. Augustine’s College Big Red Machine 22-12 in game one of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Senior Girls’ Softball Championships yesterday.

The championships are underway at the Freedom Farm baseball fields. 

The game began competitively as both teams traded runs through the first and second innings.

At the top of the third, QC held a slim 14-11 lead.

However, the game quickly turned more in favour of the Comets as a series of unwanted walks from SAC's closing pitcher and multiple errors by SAC's defence allowed QC to pile on eight additional runs.

The surge forced the mercy rule to end the game at the bottom of the third inning, sealing the 22-12 win for the Comets. 

Queen’s College showcased strong plate patience throughout its lineup and consistency in loaded bases against SAC's defencepaired with the Comets' aggressive running created too many opportunities for the Big Red Machine to contain.

Said Andranique Lamar, the Comets' shortstop and closing pitcher: “We know that SAC isn’t really a big team to us, we came into this championship knowing that we came to get it all so we hit like we wanted it all.” 

Commenting on the mindset of the team when the game was within two runs, she said: “It was nothing that we couldn’t handle because we know that we have the ability to win, we practiced for this, we came out here to win this because we wanted to defend our titles.”

Lamar promised big going into game two.

“The mindset is going to stay the same, we coming here on Thursday to defend our title, we coming here to score at least 15 runs in the first inning and we ending it in three innings again.”

In the girls' junior division, St. Augustine’s College cruised past Queen’s College for the game one victory. 

Game two of both the senior and junior girls' championships will be played on Thursday at the Freedom Farm baseball fields, where the Comets are looking to close out the series.