The Lafayette High School softball team lost a pitching duel to Pontotoc in the first game of the Charger Invitational at Oxford Middle School on Friday, falling 1-0 in five innings.

The Commodores struggled to get the bats going against Pontotoc’s starter, going a combined 2-15 at the plate.

“She did a great job. You know, we faced her last year and she does a great job of spinning it in and out, getting it up and down. It throws you off a bit,” said Lafayette head coach Greg Lewis. “We just couldn’t ever get set and get on her.”

Lafayette was able to get runners in scoring position in nearly every inning, but couldn’t break through against a Pontotoc squad that has given up more than one run just once this season.

“There was a runner on second almost every inning waiting for someone to get a big hit. We got them the other night against Center Hill, we did not get any of them tonight. We were just a little off in our approach tonight,” Lewis said.

McKenna Brown made her first start of the season for the Commodores, going 4.1 innings and giving up just one run on four hits.

“We got a great pitching job from McKenna. That was her first outing of the year as far as starting, and she did a heck of a job, I was proud of her,” said Lewis.

Lafayette moves on to face Mantachie at 9 a.m. Saturday in their final game of the tournament.

Here is the full schedule for the Charger Invitational:

Friday

Lafayette vs Pontotoc 3:00 p.m.

Cleveland Central vs Pontotoc 4:30 p.m.

North Pontotoc vs Cleveland Central 6:00 p.m.

Oxford vs N Pontotoc 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

Mantachie vs Lafayette 9:00 a.m.

South Panola vs Mantachie 10:30 a.m.

Choctaw Central vs S Panola 12:00 p.m.

Center Hill vs Choctaw Central 1:30 p.m.

New Hope vs Center Hill 3:00 p.m.

Myrtle vs New Hope 4:30 p.m.

Oxford vs Myrtle 6:00 p.m.