FORT GIBSON – The Lady Tigers (1-10) who have several players bitten by the Covid Bug, got off to a slow start Friday afternoon. Nea Polzen had trouble finding the strike zone walking six batters to hand the Wildcats five runs in the opening inning.
In the bottom of the opening frame Fort Gibson rebounded with three runs of their own. Erica Hornback led off with a triple to right and Baleigh James followed grounding to short to drive in Hornbeck for the Tigers first score. Abbye Porterfield and Jordan Hayes joined the hit parade with singles followed by a big double by Angel Lyons that drove in Porterfield and Hayes to get the Tigers within two.
With Hornback pitching in relief for Polzen the Checotah managed just a single run in the second, but took advantage of a crucial Fort Gibson error by center fielder Jolee Taylor on a ball hit by Jessie Roachell allowing Natalie Knight and Kaitlyn Searies to cross the plate and open the Wildcat lead to five.
The Tigers rallied back in the fourth. After singles by Polzen and James, Porterfield doubled to the gap in left driving in the two Fort Gibson runners to bring them back to within three.
The top of the sixth put the icing on the cake for the Wildcats. Knight, Alexis Hamilton and Vanessa Henson opened the inning with singles to open the gap to 10-5 and put the game out of reach.
Each team added a run in the final inning to bring the final score to11-6 and take the Wildcats above the .500 mark at 5-4 on the season.