Lady Cats cruise to road win at Hiram; Cass falls at East Paulding

Woodland softball cruised to a 10-1 victory Wednesday night in a Region 7-AAAAA matchup at Hiram.

The Lady Cats rolled up five runs in the top of the first inning to take charge and controlled the contest throughout.

Woodland added a single run in the second inning, three more in the third, and another run in the fifth inning to take a 10-0 lead.

Taylor Austin accounted for the only Hiram run with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.

Sarah Baynard (5 IP, 1ER, 5H, 0BB, 4K) tossed a complete-game for the Lady Cats’ to earn the pitching victory.

Bella Carnes paced Woodland with three hits including a triple and one RBI. Kendyl Hardin (photo) stroked a pair of home runs and had four RBI. Caroline Higdon homered and doubled with two RBI. Morgan Bailey contributed two hits. Ansley Evans (2 RBI), Morgan Cooper (double, RBI), and Jordan Duck had the other Wildcats’ hits.

Hiram slipped to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in region play.

Woodland (11-5, 5-2) maintains third place in the Region 7-AAAAA standings and returns to the diamond Thursday to host Paulding County at 5:55 p.m.

Photo by Randy Parker, The Daily Tribune News

EAST PAULDING PULLS AWAY LATE TO DEFEAT CASS

Cass softball stood toe-to-toe on the road with one of the Region 7-AAAAA leaders Wednesday night, but came up short at East Paulding, 11-7.

The Lady Colonels took a 3-2 lead in the top of the third and — after falling behind again — tied the Raiders in the top of the fifth inning, 6-6. Unfortunately for Cass, East Paulding pulled away down the stretch with five runs in their final two frames for a four-run region victory.

Both offenses had productive nights. East Paulding out hit Cass 17-11.

Lexi Matthews had a four hit game to pace the Raiders. Kylie Manning added three hits, while four more East Paulding hitters had two hits apiece.

Kaitlin Walden (4 IP, 4ER, 7H, 3BB, 5K) was the winning pitcher for East Paulding in relief of Maggie O’Kelley (3 IP, 3ER, 4H, 3BB, 5K).

Rachael Lee (5 IP, 10R, 9ER, 14H, 1BB, 2K) was tagged with the pitching loss for Cass. Kylee Hembree (1 IP, 1ER, 3H) worked an inning in relief.

Kelly Young had three hits for the Lady Colonels. Jaden Musacchio had two hits including a double and three RBI. Hembree added two hits including a double and one RBI. Maggie Collum (double), Haley Owens, and Lee had the other Cass base hits.

East Paulding improved to 7-1 in region play and 13-5 overall.

Cass (2-10, 2-5) plays at region-leading Carrollton Thursday at 5:55 p.m.