SYLVANIA — No one is perfect, but on the mound, Marla Thompson is frighteningly close. Thompson allowed just two hits and faced just one over the minimum as Screven County cruised to a 6-0 victory over Region 3-AA rival Southeast Bulloch Thursday evening in Sylvania.
    Thompson was the model of efficiency, striking out four Lady Yellow Jackets and allowing a solid Lady Gamecock defense to work behind her as she breezed through all seven innings in just 68 minutes and 64 pitches.
    Thursday marked the second consecutive night that Screven pitching ruled the day, as Dawn Stewart went the distance in an 8-4 win over AAAA powerhouse South Effingham Wednesday.
    “I think that everyone is just feeling really good out there,” said Thompson. “My pitches were working tonight and Dawn looked great yesterday. It helps that we know we have a great defense playing behind us.”
    “That was another great night for Marla,” said Screven coach Billy Pollock. “Pitching has really been the key for us the past few years. We know that we’ll get a good showing from whoever we send out on the mound and we know that we’ll play good defense behind them.”
    Screven got all of the runs it would need in the bottom of the second inning and did so without the ball ever leaving the infield.
    Lauren Thomas led off with an infield single, stole second, and was then sacrificed to third before Madison Torres brought her home with a swinging bunt single to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.
    Thompson helped her own cause with an RBI fielder’s choice to knock in Rochelle Shuman – who had walked in front of Torres – and a throwing error contributed to two more runs that put the Gamecocks up 4-0.
    “We looked a little flat at the plate tonight,” said Pollock. “I give SEB a lot of credit for that though. They’re a very good team and we knew this would be a tough game. It’s good to know we can still get a win when we don’t play our best.”
    “We had a tough time dealing with Screven’s speed on the bases and that led to a couple of mistakes in the field,” said SEB coach Aimee Civalier. “Overall, I was happy with (pitcher) Taylor Wilkes’ performance. She threw strikes and didn’t get hit hard, we just couldn’t make it happen at the plate.”
    Thompson was on cruise control in the early innings as she kept Yellow Jacket hitters off balance, inducing many weak pop ups and ground balls.
    After retiring the first 14 SEB batters, Thompson finally allowed a bloop single into shallow right by Ciera Clark, but Thomas promptly picked her off of first base.
    The only other blemish on Thompson’s night was a solid single by Hannah Denmark with two outs in the seventh, but the Gamecocks’ ace promptly struck out Effie Manahan looking to end the game.
    Both teams now venture out of region play as Screven travels to Jeff Davis tonight and Southeast Bulloch heads up the road to take on Metter next week.

    Mike Anthony can be reached at (912) 489-9404.