East Limestone struck first in the race to get an upper hand in the Class 4A, Area 15 softball race.

Or was it the Lady Indians struck last.

Out-hit for most of the game by visiting Ardmore Tuesday afternoon, the East Limestone put together its only two hits of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning and beat the Lady Tigers 1-0.

“There’s nothing like that,” said East Limestone pitcher Bee Medley, who drove in Danielle Holder with the winning run on a two-out single to center field.

“This gives us that quiet confidence.”

The Lady Indians (22-9) may need that confidence next Tuesday when they visit Ardmore for the start of the second round of area play.

East is currently 3-0 in area, while Ardmore (19-9) is 2-1 and in second place in the area standings.

“We know our area runs through them, and vise versa for them,” East Limestone head coach Brett Nave said. “We battle all the time.

“We have different game styles, but we’re very competitive. Ardmore is top-notch. They can play. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t see both of us in the playoffs some where.”

Ardmore right-hander Casey Steadman has the Lady Indians’ number for five innings, allowing no hits, striking out seven and walking just one.

But in the sixth, she gave up a leadoff single to Danielle Holder to start the inning. Mallory Scott bunted her to second. She went to third on Jyssica Pepper’s ground out and trotted home after Medley’s single to center field.

“It was just a matter of wanting to win,” Holder said. “That pitch to me was right down the middle.”

Steadman saw little difference in the way she worked against the Lady Indians in the final inning. Her biggest regret was not how she pitched at the end, but how the Lady Tigers missed scoring chances earlier in the game.

“I just think they had seen me,” said Steadman, implying the Lady Indians knew what to expect.

“We had base runners on all day, and we had more hits than they did. We just couldn’t produce when we needed it.”

The Lady Tigers outhit the Lady Indians 4-2.

They got a one-out double from Amber Wise in the second inning, but she was thrown out at the plate by East Limestone center fielder Chelsea Turner for the third out of the inning as she tried to score on Sara Jo Taylor’s single.

Shannon Fogg was stranded at second after a two-out double in the third inning. Courtesy runner Kayla Martin was stranded at third after getting there with one out in the fourth inning, and Fogg never moved off of second after leading off the sixth with a double for Ardmore.

“You out-hit them all over the place and can’t produce, and you get beat,” Ardmore head coach Mike Jackson said. “They had two hits, and we had a ton, and we couldn’t produce.

“We didn’t produce, that’s the reason we got beat. There were four innings we should have scored, and we didn’t do it.”

Medley allowed four hits, walked one and struck out six for East Limestone.