By Shawn C. White

The Lakeside Lady Warrior softball kicked off the season on the diamond this past weekend with scrimmage games against Parkway and Logansport.  The Lady Warriors will be under the helm of new softball coach Brittany Frazier-Smith.  Frazier-Smith’s former coaching stint was at Class 5A Airline High School where she led the Lady Vikings to a state runner-up in 2021 and back-to-back second-round appearances in 2022 and 2023.    

The young Lady Warriors fell to Parkway 8-4 and Logansport 12-1 in the scrimmage openers  

Parkway 8, Lakeside 4

The Lady Warriors started with McKenzie McCoy driving a single into left field.   McCoy stole to second base. Parkway allowed a passed ball and McCoy took advantage taking home.   Lexi Wood reached on an error and put another runner on base.   Hallie Sutton came to the plate and blasted the first home run of the season over the centerfield fence pushing the lead to 3-0.  Laiklyn Squyres hit a ground ball single as the Lady Warrior continued to add runners.  Teal Austin and Emily Jones both took one for the teams and the bases were loaded. Parkway walked Paiton Levesque to give the Lady Warriors the 4-0 lead.  

Despite a double by the Panthers, Lakeside’s defense held them scoreless to keep the 4-0 lead after one inning.  

McCoy struck again in the second hitting a triple to right field but was unable to score. 

Parkway opened up at the bottom of the second.   Thornton and West reached base on a double and single, respectively.  Horn hit worm burner to third base and Parkway scored their first run as West stopped at third.  Vaughn’s grounder gave the Panthers their second out but West reached home and closed the gap to 4-2.  An error scored West as Menard added another Panther runner on base.   Parkway’s Thompson popped a home run over the centerfield fence and gave Parkway the 5-4 lead after two innings.   

Lakeside reached on a single by Squyres and Austin once again was hit by the pitcher, but the runners were stranded on first and second.  

Logansport put runners on the corners early in the top of the third.  Passed balls became an issue for the Lady Warriors as 3 runs scored to give Logansport the 8-4 win.

Mackenzie McCoy went 2-for-2 including a triple.  Laiklyn Squyres batted 2-for-2.   Hallie Sutton was 1-for-2 including a home run and 2 RBIs.  Paiton Levesque was credited with an RBI.  

Raleah Harris pitched 1 ⅔ innings giving up 5 hits and 2 earned runs.  Hallie Sutton tossed ⅔ inning with 1 hit, 4 walks, and 2 strikeouts.

Logansport 12, Lakeside 1

Lakeside pitching started with two walks on E. Atkins and A. Atkins in the top of the first giving runners at first and second.  Logansport advanced the runners to second and third on a grounder to second base.  After a strikeout gave the second out, E. Atkins stole home on an 0-1 count.   A. Atkins was caught stealing home by third baseman Raleah Harris and the Tigers exited the first inning up 1-0. 

McCoy continued to blast the ball into the second game starting with a triple to right field.   Lexi Wood grounded out to the pitcher giving the Lady Warriors their second out but gave enough leeway for McCoy to even the score at 1-1

The Tigers came out slamming the ball.  Gardner started the inning with a home run.   Magee was hit by a pitch putting a runner on base.   Magee stole second and Kendrick hit a single pushing Magee to third.   Kendrick stole second on the next batter and gave runners at second and third.  M. Smith hit a hard ground ball to shortstop scored Magee and sent Kendrick to third extending Logansport’s lead to 3-1.  Stroud was walked and left runners on the corner.  M. Magee hit a double down the third base line scoring Kendrick and pushing the lead to 4-1.  A Morvan blasted a triple to center field and added another run.  Scrimmage rules kicked in and Logansport ended the second with a 5-1 lead.  

Lakeside had a three up, three down inning in the top of the third.  

Logansport loaded the bases early in the third with a walk by A. Atkins and singles by A. Creech and M. Roberts.   Roberts was picked off first base but not before Atkins stole home and Creech advanced to third.  Gardner was walked and once again Logansport had runners on the corners.  C. Magee knocked a triple to centerfield scoring Creech, but Gardner was caught trying to stretch the run home.   Logansport was up 8-1 after three innings.  

McCoy added another double but was unable to score for the Lady Warriors.  

Three consecutive walks loaded the bases for Logansport once again.   A single by M. Magee scored another Tiger run.  Bases still loaded after the single,  Morvan was walked and added another Tiger run.   E. Atkins ended the inning with a double as Logansport finished with the 12-1 lead.  

McKenzie McCoy added another 2-for-2 performance to finish out the day at 4-for-4 including two triples and a double.  Meredith Robinson got the only other hit against Logansport with a single. 

McCoy pitched 2 ⅔ innings giving up 9 hits, 8 earned runs, 5 walks, and striking out 3.  Raleah Harris pitched ⅓ of an inning with 1 hit, 4 earned runs, and 4 walks.