Runs were hard to come by, but Jemison softball managed to finish on top during a 3-2 victory at home against Marbury on Feb. 27.

Hannah Rose Corbin pitched all seven innings for the Panthers and already appeared in midseason form seven games into the season.

“I was hitting my spots really good tonight,” Corbin said. “I’m excited to see what this year’s going to bring. It feels like we’ve been working hard for the past three years to get to this point.”

It was an offensive struggle early on for Jemison, which did not have a batter reach base until the third inning.

According to Jemison head coach Nathan Hayes, Marbury started a freshman pitcher who the Panthers were not expecting. As a result, it took one trip through the lineup before Jemison was able to figure her out.

“It was kind of a guessing game as far as what she threw,” Hayes said.

However, once they did get a runner, it did not take long to bring them home. The Panthers scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning and led 2-1 heading into the fourth.

“The third inning is when we got back to the top of our order and started playing small ball. We put a little pressure on them and thankfully were able to capitalize on it.”

Playing small ball was the key to Jemison’s success, as they took advantage of the situations and executed on timely bunts to advance runners.

Charlise Murphy hit an RBI double that scored Kelsey Lowery and extended the lead 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

That insurance run proved to be the game winner after Marbury added one more in the sixth inning to cut the lead to one.

Kelsey Porter played the flex position, which meant she did not have to hit, and showed her range on a couple of occasions with some nice defensive snags at second base.

In the early part of the season, Hayes has experimented with several lineups in an attempt to find the right mixture as the season wears on

“Our pitching has had us in every game this year, but we’ve got to consistently hit the ball a little better,” Hayes said. “We’re just trying to build toward the end of the season when it really counts.”