Lady Pioneers downed by Lebanon
LEBANON — After a four-day delay, the Lady Pioneer softball team hit the field Friday in the District 7-AAA tournament. Warren County entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and faced the No. 3 seed Lady Blue Devils of Lebanon.
The bottom of the third inning proved to be the Lady Pioneers’ downfall as Lebanon downed Warren County 7-0.
“The girls hit the field ready to play and the first two innings our defense made several big plays to keep Lebanon off the board. We were one out away from getting out of the third, then two costly errors gave Lebanon the opportunity to back us up against a wall with three runs,” said coach David Upton.
Warren County had the first opportunity to score in the top of the first. With one out, Lacey Griffith dropped a bunt down the third base line for the Lady Pioneers’ first baserunner of the day. With two outs Lady Pioneer pitcher Erica Warren drove a single up the middle to put runners on the corners, but Lebanon got out of the inning with ground ball for the third out. In the bottom of the first Warren struck out the leadoff batter for Lebanon. Lebanon drove two hard shots to the out-field but right fielder Candace Stubblefield and left fielder Crystal Jones tracked the balls down to send the Lady Blue Devils down in order.
Warren County went down in order in the top of the second. Solid defense by Warren County held Lebanon scoreless in the bottom of the inning after an infield hit put a runner on first.
Warren County continued to struggle with the bats in the third as Lebanon recorded two strikeouts and the Lady Pioneers went down in order. Warren struck out the Lebanon’s leadoff batter in the bottom of the frame, then the Lady Pioneers recorded their second out on a ground ball out to short. But things would go downhill after that.
With two outs the Lady Blue Devils put three runs on the board. Two errors by the infield and two walks set the stage for a double into left field before Warren County got out of the inning down 3-0.
In the fourth the Lady Pioneers put one runner on when Warren, trying to help her own cause, singled to left. Warren County’s next two batters grounded out to end the inning.
Lebanon added two runs in the bottom of the fourth, coming up with four hits in a row with one out to extend its lead to 5-0.
Two errors by the Lady Pioneers and a double by Lebanon added two more runs in the sixth, giving Lebanon a 7-0 lead going into the final frame, where the Lady Blue Devils shut down any hopes of a comeback by Warren County, retiring the Lady Pioneers 1-2-3 to preserve the shutout.
Warren County picked up three hits and committed six errors on the day. Warren walked two and had three strikeouts with Lebanon picking up five hits.
“Our record may not show it but we had a real good season,” said Upton, whose team finished 8-18. “The girls never stopped fighting, and kept their heads up even when they were down four or five runs.
“This team has matured in a lot of ways and have finally earned the respect of the other teams in the district and other coaches. They know they can go out here and beat these other teams and now they have to understand to respect their own abilities.
“Our juniors and seniors have never had any leadership in the past. But this year our seniors stepped up and did a great job and set a solid foundation for our seniors next year to be leaders. Our five seniors — Tracy Medlen, Crystal Jones, Jasmine Ware, Brittany Patterson and Lacey Griffith — have helped moved WCHS softball in the right direction. We have a good group coming back next year with our freshman and sophomores. We have four juniors who have a lot of experience at the high school level to lead this team next year.”