DAPHNE, Alabama — The Daphne Lady Trojans held off a late rally by visiting Fairhope to top the Lady Pirates 6-5 in their 6A Area 3 regular-season meeting Thursday. It was the second-straight time Daphne edged Fairhope by a run having won 2-1 in their early-season match up at Fairhope.

“It’s been a long time since Daphne swept the season series against Fairhope," said Daphne coach L.T. Yelding who added that he had decided before the game to spilt the pitching duties between the junior tandem Baylee Lucassen and Kimberly Small.

“Both Baylee and Kimberly pitched well for us tonight," he said. "That was kind of our plan, we didn't want Fairhope to hone in one, just one, pitcher this evening. We gave them too many walks though and we're going to have to work on that. But I’m proud of the extra effort the girls put into this one getting ready. We needed it. It’s a big win for us that puts us in a good position to win the area and host the tournament. We need to beat Robertsdale and so far that’s been tough to do.”

The Trojans improved to 26-11 overall and 5-1 in Area 3. Daphne still has area foe Robertsdale April 25 at DHS. The Golden Bears (19-19-1, 5-2) beat Daphne 1-0 March 12 at RHS and also took a 1-0 non-conference win over DHS in a tournament. Both RHS losses are to Fairhope. The Pirates fell to 23-11, 5-2 and closes out Area 3 play at rival Baldwin County High in Bay Minette Tuesday. Both the RHS at DHS and the FHS at BCHS varsity games are set for 7 p.m.

Lucassen (9-6) started for the Trojans and threw a four hitter in four innings. She struck out five, walked two and hit one in taking the victory. Small (13-5) scattered four hits in long relief over the last three innings for the save.

Fairhope senior Grey Adams (19-6) took the loss. She had eight strike outs, walked one batter and hit one. Adams gave up eight hits, but helped herself at the plate. The Samford signee delivered three RBI's off three hits, including a double. Lauren Ponder had two singles for FHS.

"I thought she (Adams) threw well," said Fairhope coach Jonathan Heflin. "She hit her spots and kept Daphne guessing all night. Daphne was able to get a couple of balls to fall where they needed them tonight. Every time that Fairhope and Daphne get together it's a heck of a good ballgame. We were expecting it to be a good game and it was. We were a little tight in the first inning but I'm proud of the girls for fighting back and giving us a chance to win the game at the end."

Daphne took an early 3-0 lead in the home half of the first inning as Meredith Mackin reached on a bunt single and scored the first run on an error. Lucassen then singled in two runs. In the top of the third Adams doubled in a pair of runs to make it a one-run game at 3-2. In the fifth Adams answered again with an RBI single to tie it at 3-3. Lauren Ponder had two singles for the Pirates.

But the Trojans retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Crimson Tide signee Peyton Grantham connected for an RBI double, Small provided a two-run single and Kaitlyn Blubaugh added a triple while MaKenna Pierce singled twice. Daphne almost scored an insurance run on a squeeze play but FHS third baseman Courtney Piesco made a heads up snag and tag on Grantham— who was breaking home from third—to prevent the score. Piesco also had a sacrifice bunt and hit into an error that scored Katherine Knight and Hannah Brown who had singled in a pair of runs,

Fairhope picked up two more runs in the sixth on another Trojan error to pull within one run at 6-5 but that would be the final score.

“We're going to get the defensive errors corrected and if we can keep hitting the ball like we hit it tonight, we're going to be playing for awhile,” Yelding said. “I'm proud of my kids though, we played three nights in a row this week and we saved our best game for last.”