Lady Pioneers burned by Blaze
The Lady Pioneer softball team traveled to Blackman Tuesday for their first District 7- AAA contest of the year. Warren County gave the Lady Blaze all they wanted but too many runners left on base proved to be costly as Blackman edged Warren County 4-3.
The Lady Pioneers hit the field with a lot of confidence as Warren County committed no errors in the game. The Lady Pioneers scored in the top of the first when Alex Mullican led off with a single. McCall Cooper and Penny Wanamaker followed with back-to-back hits to load the bases. Erica Warren singled to score Mullican with one out. Candace Stubblefield drew a walk, which scored Cooper to give Warren County a 2-0 lead. Blackman answered with one run in the bottom of the inning with a single and a double RBI.
In the second, Emily Smith walked but was left stranded as the next three Lady Pioneers went down in order. The Lady Blaze took the lead in the bottom of the second after Warren County’s defense got the first out. Blackman put together a walk and back-to-back hits for a 3-2 lead.
Cassie McGinness singled in the top of the third but was left stranded. Blackman went down in order.
Shellie Hayes singled to lead off the top of the fourth. Smith reached on an error, Mullican laid down a bunt but Hayes was caught at third as Warren County left two more runners on base. Blackman picked up one hit in the inning.
Warren singled to open the fifth and with two outs Hayes singled to score Flatt as Warren County tied the game at 3-3. In the bottom of the fifth, Blackman came up with two big hits with two outs to retake the lead at 4-3.
Warren County put one on in the sixth but failed to move the runner. Warren County played solid in the field as Blackman went down 1-2-3.
In the top of the seventh, Hayes singled with one out and again the Lady Pioneer was left stranded to end the game.
Warren County picked up 12 hits with 35 at bats and played an errorless game. Warren gave up 12 hits and walked one.
“We let this one slip through our fingers,” said coach David Upton.” We played a great game against one of the top teams in the district, but we left too many runners on base. We had several chances to put this one away and just came up short. I’m very proud of the way this team battled today. We played great defense and hit the ball well. We just missed on several key opportunities.”