Riverdale wins on late homer
The Lady Pioneers fifth-inning rally to tie the game was short-lived as Riverdale hit a three-run homer to take the 6-3 win Monday at WCHS.
The Lady Pioneers are now 10-20 on the season, and were scheduled to play Dekalb County in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
WCHS scored first with a leadoff hit from Lacey Griffith, who later scored on a single to left by Jasmine Ware for the 1-0 lead.
The Lady Pioneers held Riverdale scoreless until the fifth, when the Lady Warriors put three on with two hits and an error to take a 2-1 lead. The Lady Warriors added one more in the sixth, but the Lady Pioneers answered in their half of the inning. Brittany Patterson reached with a hit to center. Vanessa Cornelius drove a double to center to score Patterson. Ware then came to the plate and hit a triple to score Cornelius and tie the game at 3-3.
The Lady Pioneers worked hard in the seventh and got two quick outs from Riverdale. But the Lady Warriors produced back-to-back hits to put two on, when Lady Warrior third baseman Melissa Weiland drove a ball to deep left field to clear the fence and give Riverdale the 6-3 lead. WCHS never gave up, and put two on in the bottom of the inning, but came up one out short.
Cornelius had three strikeouts with Erica Warren fanning one. The Pioneers gave up 10 hits and four errors. Riverdale also had 10 hits, struck out five and committed two errors.
For the Lady Pioneers, Kelly Walker went 3-for-3, Griffith was 3-for-4 and Ware was 2-for-3, with Patterson and Cornelius picking up one hit each.