Columbus softball takes control early in win over Cairo

The Columbus softball team went down to the wire with Cairo Wednesday. Two days later, the Lady Blue Devils made sure there was little excitement for the Lady Syrupmakers.

The Lady Blue Devils jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held off Cairo in an 8-0 victory. Thanks to the win, the Lady Blue Devils face Northside at 5 p.m.

Columbus lead-off hitter Hannah Morales got the offense going promptly with a single. After Alexis Day singled, Abby Wynn delivered a 2-RBI double to start the scoring.

Emily Davis’ single and Alyssa Barker’s sacrifice fly soon doubled the lead to 4-0. The hot start was a change of pace for a Columbus team which has relied more on late-inning hitting this season.

Though the four runs could have been enough, the Lady Blue Devils didn’t stop there. An error in the third inning followed by Amanda Pate’s single tacked on two additional Columbus runs.

The loss ended what was a bizarre 48 hours for Cairo. After initially being eliminated by Columbus Wednesday, Shaw’s disqualification brought the Lady Syrupmakers back in the tournament.

In its first game Friday, Cairo beat Hardaway 11-0 to take the region’s third seed for state.

This story was originally published October 6, 2017 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Columbus softball takes control early in win over Cairo."