DAPHNE, Alabama — Bayside’s Danielle DiPretoro fired a birdie on the final hole for a personal varsity best 39 on the tough Magnolia Nine at TimberCreek Thursday to lead the Lady Admirals to a 125-147 win over McGill-Toolen Catholic, Faith Academy and St. Luke's Episcopal. The Bayside girls improved to 2-0 with the win.

A senior with a number of recent junior tournament wins to her credit, DiPretoro was happy to earn the medalist honors for the first time in her career, particularly after playing behind teammate, classmate, friend and twice state champion Caroline Beebe the last three years.

"It is a tough one, (Magnolia Nine) so it feels really good," she said. "Even though I got off to a shaky start, I was able to get back in it, make par on most and then get birdie on the last one. But, I hope I can still do better. I practiced hard all summer long, played in a lot of different tournaments, got to know a lot of the courses better and last tournament played well. So, I feel more confident. But I know I need to keep working. I think everybody struggled some out there today and I'm really just excited for our team that we hung in there and came out with the win. We all play as a team out there and when one of us is struggling, somebody else steps up. But overall we're shooting strongly as a team and I think we have a really good chance at state again this year."

The Lady Admirals just missed the cut last year as a team, but Beebe went on to qualify individually and win her second state individual title. Both basketball players, Beebe and Dipretoro have had less time to practice for the early golf season.

"Making the transition from basketball to golf is kind of rough. They are so completely different and it usually takes a couple of matches to shift into, I think," DiPretoro said. "Caroline has always carried us as a team and this year we — the rest of us — are all working extra

hard to take some of the pressure off her. She cares about the team so much that she wants us all to get to go to state, too. High hopes. High hopes."

Bayside golf coach Tom Johnson said his two seniors Beebe and DiPretoro were great leaders by example.

"Our girls are playing very consistently so far and slowly improving and the main thing at this point is to make improvements, however small, as you go. Even though this was not a good day in terms of total score, they still came out with the win. Like all of us, the girls have a bad day here and there, too. Some days the course just gets the best of you and you have to respect it. But it only beats you if you give up and don't come back at it.

"Mostly, I'm glad to see that overall consistency is there and it's carried over from last year and with improvements. Our seniors Danielle and Caroline do a good job of coming back from bad days and the younger girls are getting that understanding, too. They'll be back to work hard to challenge themselves again. Our juniors, Haileigh

(Hughes) and Bailey (Mason) are really showing that improvement and Rebecca Todd, our sophomore is really playing — I would say — the most improved since last year. So, every girl has elevated her game and I'm proud of that."

Beebe was the medalist Tuesday for the girls at Heron Lakes in the Lady Admirals' opener shooting a 39. Bayside's girls defeated St. Luke's 122-157 with Cottage Hill Christian and Mobile Christian Academy following.

BOYS GOLF: The Bayside boys led by freshman John Solberg's 36 also remained undefeated with a 152-166 win over St. Luke's Wildcats at TimberCreek Tuesday.

Solberg also took the winner's medal at Heron Lakes Tuesday with a one-under 35 in the Admirals' 151-160 win over St. Luke's with Mobile Christian and Cottage Hill trailing.

Johnson said although his players are young, they are playing well and are hungry to get better.

"This is the best start for the boys as a team in a number of years and we're young," he said. "We have one junior out of the first five with ninth graders and 10th graders so if we continue to improve after these first two matches, people will take notice. These boys can play and they love to play and they are very competitive minded. They don't need much encouragement. They work at it hard and still have fun with it and that's exciting to see. We had a 38, 39 and a 40 to score also on a course that still left us several strokes ahead and I know the ones who shot over that 40 can do better. Solberg is shooting very well. He has a solid game. The other guys are pushing him and themselves, too. You know we'd love to have two or three finish at par or better and it can happen. They believe it. I believe it. So, I'm hoping we go far this year."

Trey Smith (38), Colby Carr (39) and Jacob Dyas (40) filled out the team scoring for the Admirals who improved to 2-0.