Woodland wins fourth straight region game; Cass topped by Raiders
The Woodland Lady Cats powered their way past the visiting Hiram Lady Hornets Wednesday night 4-2 to collect their fourth straight Region 7-AAAAA win and keep pace with the top teams in the league.
Woodland broke open an early pitchers’ duel between the Lady Cats’ Lainey Baker and Hiram’s Sydney Adomnik with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Bella Carnes tripled and later scored on an Ansley Evans groundout. That was followed by back-to-back home runs by Morgan Cooper and Kendyl Hardin as the Wildcats got on the scoreboard. Hiram answered with two runs in the top of the sixth to make the score 3-2, but Woodland added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame before Baker closed out the final inning with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout. Adomnik (6 IP, 4R, 4ER, 7H, 4BB, 6K) kept the Lady Hornets in the game but was tagged with the pitching loss. Baker was even better, allowing only two unearned runs on five hits and three walks. She struck out 16.
Megan Smith had two hits including a double for Hiram. Kyleigh Haney added a double and Dallas Hardy drove in a run with one hit. Carnes finished with three hits and a walk. Her night at the plate included a double, a triple, and two runs scored. She also swiped a base. Cassie Jones and Morgan Bailey had the other Woodland base hits in addition to the homers by Cooper and Hardin.
The loss drops Hiram to 4-9 overall and 4-3 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Woodland (6-5, 5-2) travels to Paulding County Thursday for a 5:55 p.m. first pitch in another region tilt and will open the Bartow County Championship Tournament Saturday at 11 a.m. against Cartersville at Adairsville.
EAST PAULDING 7, CASS 5
Hosting one of the top teams in Region 7-AAAAA Wednesday night, the Lady Colonels battled into the seventh inning and had the potential tying runs on base before falling to the East Paulding Lady Raiders 7-5.
The East Paulding offense was productive throughout the night scoring at least one run in every inning except the third. The Raiders led 3-0 through three innings and added single runs in their final four frames. Cass scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to narrow the margin to 4-2 and tied the game 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth with three runs. Unfortunately for the Lady Colonels, they could not push across a late run to keep pace.
Maggie O’Kelley (6.1 IP, 5R, 4ER, 9H, 3BB, 5K) picked up the pitching win for East Paulding by working into the seventh inning. Kyra Lightner (0.2 IP, 0R, 0H) retired the final two outs in the seventh for a save.
Cass pitcher Kylee Hembree (7 IP, 7R, 4ER, 10H, 1BB, 1K) gave the Colonels a chance, but suffered the loss in the circle.
Graci Summers had three hits including a double and one RBI for the Raiders. Kylie Manning finished with a double and a triple. Three other Raiders had one hit and one RBI each — Hannah Bobo, O’Kelley, and Hannah Davis.
Rachael Lee was the only Colonel with two hits. She also drove in a run. Kimberly Allen, Ansley Hight, and Hembree (RBI) all tripled. Haylee Dishmon (RBI), Saydee Najarro, Kelly Young, and Alexis Woods added one hit each for Cass.
East Paulding improved to 9-8 overall and 6-2 in Region 7-AAAAA. It doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Colonels (6-5, 3-4). They host region-leader Carrollton Thursday at 5:55 p.m. before playing at Adairsville Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in the opening game of the Bartow County Championship Tournament.
