The Benton Lady Tigers, Airline Lady Vikings and Parkway Lady Panthers opened the high school softball season with victories Monday.
Benton downed Captain Shreve 3-2 at Benton, Airline edged Pineville 2-1 at Northwestern State and Parkway got a 5-1 home victory over Anacoco.
Meanwhile, the Haughton Lady Bucs dropped a couple of one-run games Monday and Tuesday.
Haughton fell to Ruston 11-10 Monday at home and Neville 3-2 Tuesday in Monroe.
Bossier dropped its opener Tuesday against Haynesville.
At Benton, sophomore Gabrielle Kespelher pitched a 3-hitter with 16 strikeouts. Sophomore Mackenzie Eddy went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Kespelher had a two-out single to keep the Lady Tigers alive in the eighth. She stole second and scored the winning run on a double by Savannah Collo.
At NSU, Ashley Salinas and Miranda Young had two hits each to lead Airline. Sarah Martin had two RBIs.
Kayla Ann Ranit allowed six hits. Airline overcame six errors to win.
The Lady Vikings scored both of their runs in the sixth.
Salinas and Ranit had singles in the inning. Martin’s ground ball single to first with two outs brought in the two runs.
At Parkway, pitcher Cheyenne Rogers went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs to lead the Lady Panthers.
Freshman Haydn Parker went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Carol Cash went 2-for-3 with a double.
Haughton scored seven runs in the fifth inning to take a 10-3 lead against Ruston Monday.
But Ruston rallied with five in sixth and three in the seventh to win it.
Anna Dies, Brooke Payton and Natalie Smith all had home runs for Haughton.
Dies went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Payton went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Smith also had two hits.
The Lady Bucs lost another tough one Tuesday when Neville scored a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Jessica Blank went 2-for-3. Payton had a double and two RBIs. Carissa Herndon had a double.








