May 17—OXFORD — Despite a solid performance in the circle from Emma Grace Todd, Piedmont's offense couldn't back her up as the Bulldogs fell to Opp in a 2-1 loss in the opening round of the Class 3A state softball tournament.

"I thought Emma Grace did a great job," Piedmont coach Rachel Smith said. "We had that one inning where we walked a batter and she ended up scoring, but other than that I thought she did a fine job keeping everybody off balance and keeping their hitters at bay."

Todd allowed six hits and two earned runs while walking two and striking out one.

Piedmont could only combine for five hits in the contest, with Jaycee Glover accounting for two of them. Cacey Brothers, Cayla Brothers and Ava Pope accounted for each of the hits.

Cayla Brothers was credited with the RBI while Cacey Brothers scored the run.

Opp pitcher C Courson struck out nine Piedmont batters, allowing five hits and one earned run. She didn't walk a batter and threw 70.2 percent strikes.

"She kept us off balance with her off-speed stuff," Smith said. "Hats off to Opp."

Leadoff batter Amaya Womack led Opp with two hits, while catcher Taylor Adams and first baseman Reese Cauley each had an RBI.

"It shouldn't be anything new for us," Smith said. "They've been here three years in a row, and we just didn't execute at the plate like we should have. I didn't feel like coming in we had any nerves at all."

Piedmont will fall into the loser's bracket and face Danville.

"Yeah, they made a game up of it there," Smith said. "I just feel like our approaches were a little stagnant at the plate, early in the game. We should have been a little more aggressive early in the game. I will take the fault for that. That's coaching. So we've got to flush that and move on."

Sports Writer Thomas Ashworth: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @ThomasAshworth0.