Lady Colonels take early lead to win at Paulding; Lady Canes prep for region playoffs

Cass softball raced out to a 6-0 lead Monday night at Paulding County and Lady Colonels’ pitchers Rachael Lee and Kylee Hembree made it stand up in a 10-3 Region 7-AAAAA victory in Dallas.

Lee (3.2 IP, 1R, 0ER, 1H, 7BB, 2K) started in the circle and picked up the win. Hembree (3.1 IP, 2R, 1ER, 1H, 2BB, 1K) closed out the game as the two hurlers combined for a two-hitter.

Kendal Cantrell had both Pauldling County hits. One hit was a double.

Rachael Lee (photo) finished with three hits and three RBI. Eryn Lee had two hits, scored three times, and had two RBI. Hembree and Haley Owens had one hit and one RBI apiece. Kelly Young and Macenzie Dougharty added base hits. Haley Smith walked twice and drove in a run.

The loss dropped Paulding County to 4-18 overall and 1-13 in region action.

Cass (4-20, 4-10) hosts East Paulding Tuesday and Carrollton on Thursday. Both games are scheduled for 5:55 p.m. starts.

LADY CANES LOSE AT REGION CO-LEADER CHAPEL HILL

A pair of sixth inning runs by Chapel Hill on a two-run homer lifted the Lady Panthers past Cartersville softball Monday night 4-2 in a Region 5-AAAA game in Douglasville.

Chapel Hill took a 2-1 lead in the first inning on an Isis Taylor two-run home run, but Cartersville tied the game with a run in the top of the third inning before the late Panther home run by Rylie Moody.

Cartersville’s first inning run came on a solo shot by Hope Short.

Both pitchers were effective outside the long balls and neither walked a batter. Chapel Hill had five hits. Cartersville managed three.

Kira Morgan (7 IP, 2ER, 3H, 0BB, 6K) was the winning pitcher for Chapel Hill. Colbi Ballard (6 IP, 4ER, 5H, 0BB, 9K) was tagged with the loss for Cartersville.

Short finished with two hits for Cartersville including her homer. Brooklyn Pittman had the only other Cartersville base hit.

Chapel Hill improved to 20-4 overall and 10-1 in region games.

Cartersville wraps up the regular season with a 9-12 overall mark and 4-8 in the region.

According to Cartersville head coach Shannon Suarez, the Lady Canes will most likely open the Region 5-AAAA playoffs as the 5-seed and play at 4-seed Cedartown in a best-of-three series that will begin with a doubleheader on either Saturday afternoon or Monday, October 1.

Cedartown has a region game at Chapel Hill Tuesday and seeding will become official after that game.