Lincoln Co. rallies over Lady Pioneers
The Lady Pioneer softball team opened its season on the road against Lincoln County Tuesday, falling 5-3 in what was a come-from-behind win for the Lady Falcons.
After Warren County went three-up and three-down in the first, Lincoln County’s Lauren Bankston hit a solo shot over the left-field fence in the bottom half of the frame to give LCHS a 1-0 lead.
In the second the Lady Falcons got their lead off batter on with a walk. Warren County took the Lady Falcons out of the ending when Shellie Hayes turn the 6-3 double play, the first for Warren County in two years.
Warren County got on the score board in the third. With one out, Tracy Medlen got the Lady Pioneers’ first hit of the day. Medlen stole second and, with two outs, Crystal Jones drove a single up the middle to put runners on the corners, then Kendra Savage reached on an error which scored Medlen. Jones stole home on a pick-off play attempt by Lincoln County to give WCHS a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Falcons put runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Jasmine Ware gunned down a runner at third on a single to the outfield to end the threat and keep the Lady Pioneers on top.
In the top of the fifth Medlen led off with a single to left and was bunted over to second. Jones drew a walk and later scored from an infield hit by Ware to give the Lady Pioneers a 3-1 lead.
The Lady Falcons’ Katrina Kelso led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to center field, cutting the Lady Pioneer lead to 3-2, LCHS put another runner in scoring position on an error by WCHS, but the Lady Pioneers escaped any further damage.
LCHS led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, and another hit tied the game 3-3. With two outs the Lady Falcons put together two more hits and took advantage of a costly error from the Lady Pioneers to score two more runs to take a 5-3 lead into the seventh.
The Lady Pioneers tried to rally in the top of the inning but the Lady Falcons held on for the victory.
The Lady Pioneers had six hits and four errors in the game while LCHS put together nine hits with three errors.
“We played some good ball tonight, but let the mistakes take us out of the game,” said coach David Upton. “Our hitting just wasn’t there when we needed it, we left several runners in scoring position and that was a big difference in the game.
“We cut down on our errors, but when we did make one it was with runners in scoring position and Lincoln County took advantage of it.”
For the Lady Pioneers, Medlen was 2-for-3 and Jones 1-for-4, while Cassie McGinness, Ware and Tara Wood went 1-for-3.
The Lady Pioneers will play in a tournament in Cookeville this weekend.
• In the junior varsity game the Lady Pioneers struck first with a single from Brittany Patterson, who later scored to make it a 1-0 game.
WCHS had trouble over the next two innings shutting down the Lady Falcons. Inexperience pitching from the Lady Pioneers proved to be costly as FCHS scored five runs in the second and eight runs in the third. WCHS added two runs in the second and two runs in the third, but couldn’t overcome the eight-run margin in the top of the fourth and fell 13-5.
Patterson, Candace Stubblefield, Sallie Slatton and Brandi Rust were 2-3, Kelly Walker and Taren Hennessee were 1-3, Shellie Hayes and Sara Tanner went 1-2 in the four ending game.