The Quitman Lady Bulldogs dropped a pair of games to district rivals Winnsboro and Alba-Golden last week when big innings by their opponents spelled the difference in the outcomes.

Thursday Winnsboro got four hits and four runs in the fourth inning to win 5-1 and the following day the Lady Panthers broke open a 6-6 tie and scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat Quitman 12-6.

At Winnsboro Kelsey Daniel singled with two outs in the top of the first and moved to second on a wild pitch but was stranded there and in the second the Lady Bulldogs got two runners on via a Winnsboro error and a single by Shayla Smith but a double play and strikeout doomed any scoring opportunity and the game moved into the third inning scoreless.

Quitman's Allie Medlin walked with two outs but Daniel pulled a sharply hit ground ball to third for the final out of the inning. In the bottom of the third Winnsboro combined a one-out-walk and a double to score the lead run and Quitman escaped further damage when an interference call on a baserunner created the third out of the inning.

The Lady Bulldogs got a break in the fourth when with two outs Smith reached base on an infield error, moved the second on a wild pitch and scored moments later on a line drive single t right field by Hope Deer that tied the game.

The game got away from Quitman in the bottom of the fourth when with one out the Lady Raiders got two runners on base with a walk and a single. A double drove in one run and one out later a walk and two more singles produced a 5-1 lead that they never relinquished.

Quitman threatened in the fifth when Megan Fairchild walked and was forced out at second on a ground ball by Alyssa Harris. Harris then raced to third on a single to right field by Medlin, with Medline taking second on the play at third. But that threat fizzled when the next two batters popped out to third and catcher.

Quitman went down in order in the sixth and produced their final threat in the seventh when they got two runners on a walk and a pop up to the outfield by Harris that fell safely between three players but once again got the outs they needed to salt the game away on an infield grounder and a pop up to second.

At Alba-Golden Quitman scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. They fell behind 3-1 after four innings and fought back to tie the game in the top of the fifth, only to give up three runs in the bottom of the inning.

The Lady Bulldogs never quit and scored three runs of their own in the top of the sixth inning to retie the game 6-6.

Then the Lady Panthers took control by scoring six times in the bottom of the inning.

Quitman had 11 hits, with three of those singles by Daniel. Smith and Shea Raley each had two hits.

Alba-Golden collected 18 hits, including a homerun.

Quitman goes into their final three games of the season with a home game against Grand Saline Tuesday (too late for the Democrat deadline) and games at Edgewood Friday and Lone Oak next Tuesday.