(Lagrange, GA) — The Lady Braves earned a third straight region win with a 13-3 run rule road decision over Callaway Thursday in Lagrange.

The win moves the squad to 3-0 in region play for the season and 8-3 overall. Junior hurler Katelyn Jiles started her first game of the season and pitched well to earn the win.

Jiles tossed three innings allowing just one earned run, two hits and a walk while striking out two. She has only allowed five earend runs in 15plus innings this season. Senior Haley Bennett worked the last two innings in relief.

Offensively, several Lady Braves had big efforts with five different players having multiple hits.

Freshman Mackenzie White led the way with a single, a double and three runs batted in. Emma Helton, Janiyah Strong, Abigail Lathrop, and Tori Caldwell also had two hits apiece. Caldwell currently sports a team-high batting average of .586.

Alyssa Hall also added a base hit and an RBI. Head coach Matt Hornsby was glad to see the entire roster producing in the region win and was pleased with Jiles’ effort in her first start of the season.

“I thought Katelyn Jiles last year was more comfortable and she was better when she relieved — but she was excited when we asked her if she wanted to start today,” said Hornsby after the game. “I thought she threw hard and hit her spots very well. While she has been strong for us in relief it’s good to know that she is comfortable starting if we need her to — we actually feel good right now that all four of our pitchers can start or relieve which is big for us.”

Hornsby says that many of the girls are learning to accept different roles to benefit the team and believes that chemistry will be crucial to the squad’s success as the season wears on and the games get more and more important.

“We hope that they feel the same way we do — that it is better to be a good player on a good team even if you’re not starting rather than being the star of the show on a losing team,” Hornsby says.

A lot of Lady Braves also saw action in a 16-0 win at Troup County on Wednesday afternoon including a  tremendous milestone start by junior pitcher Caroline Jones.

Jones tossed a complete game shutout versus the Tigers allowing just one hit and striking out nine in four innings to earn her first varsity win.

Caroline has pitched well for several weeks now and it was nice to be able to see her get a win like that — she was the star of the show,” said Hornsby.

Leading the way at the plate in the win were Lora Glover, Janiyah Strong, and Brittany Graley. Glover was 2-for-3 with two triples and three RBI’s while Strong was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI’s and Graley was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Emma Helton drove in two with a double.

Sophomore Beth Taylor had the highlight of the game with a 2-run HR, the first long ball of her varsity career. She and Chaple Butler were both brought up from the junior varsity squad this week to bring the roster total to 20 — the largest number in team history.

The Lady Braves will host another region foe in Jordan Wednesday at HCHS with doubleheader game times scheduled for 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM.

The team travels to the Carrollton Tournament next Friday to face strong non-region competition in Class AAAAAAA Hillgrove (5:00 PM) and Class AAA Pierce County.