By Jake Winfrey

jwinfrey@cullmantimes.com

GOOD HOPE — Rain may have put a damper on a potential Cold Springs-Good Hope matchup, but it didn’t stop the two teams from earning at least one victory apiece during the Raiders’ Umpire’s Tournament on Saturday.

The Eagles outlasted West Point 1-0 in their first contest before defeating Hanceville 12-1 shortly afterward. Good Hope, meanwhile, bested the Warriors 9-0 to kick off the action on its home field. It also tied Addison 0-0.

Each outing was played on a one-hour time limit with no mandatory number of innings needed to become an official bout. The annual tourney was eventually called during Good Hope’s initial at-bats against Cold Springs due to heavy rainfall.

Rilee White hurled a no-hitter over 5 2/3 innings versus West Point before crushing a three-run homer in her group’s dominant win over Hanceville. She and Madison Holmes (two hits) each drove in four runs on the day. Emily Williams, Anna Kate Voce, Kylon Hamby and Hayden Goodwin all secured RBI base knocks. Williams’ hit produced the Blue and Gold’s lone run against the Warriors.

Bailey West rounded out the stat sheet with two singles in the opener.

Eagle coach Patrick West couldn’t have been more pleased with what he saw from his girls on Saturday.

“All three phases of the game were really good today,” he said. “Pitching and defense were great. I think our hitting will get better, too, as we go along. If we were playing our best right now, we’d have nowhere to go but down. 

“We’re replacing six starters and have a couple of new girls in the mix as well. I know it won’t always be like this. We’re going to have our bad games, but we haven’t had one yet eight games in. I don’t really have any complaints right now.”

Cold Springs (6-2) will take on area foes Tanner and Addison next week.

The Raiders had no trouble plating runs in their runaway triumph against West Point.

Mallorie Kauffman (two RBIs), Erika Woodall (two runs), MaKailey Speegle (three runs) and Morgan Goodwin (two runs) all recorded two hits apiece for Good Hope, which received a three-inning no-hitter from Josie McDonald.

The junior pitcher tossed in an RBI single, as did Derekia Tankersley.

McDonald delivered eight strong innings over a three-opponent stretch, allowing three hits and striking out six.

Skylar Tucker (two hits), and Woodall, Speegle and Bailey Starnes (one hit each) provided a little bit of offense in the final two matchups.

While Red and White coach Tim Hodson was disappointed with the rain, the first-year head man liked what he saw beforehand.

“We had a few things we wanted to work on, but we didn’t get to because of the weather,” Hodson said. “But if we play like we did during our morning game, we’re really hard to beat. We’ve got a long way to go, but I feel good. If the right team shows up, I think they can play with anybody out there.”

Good Hope will travel to Oneonta next Tuesday for an area contest.