Lady Bruins rally late to top Cartersville on the Road

Published 11:46 pm Thursday, August 14, 2014

Northwest Whitfield High School’s softball team used a three-run seventh inning Thursday night as it rallied to beat host Cartersville 4-3 in the Region 7-4A opener for both programs.

Trailing 3-1, the Lady Bruins (3-0) — winners of the past two Class 4A state titles — had a little help in the final frame in the form of a walk to Kylee Ward and two errors.

BriLeigh Baggett, who held Cartersville in its half of the seventh to pick up the complete-game win in the circle, delivered the big blow for Northwest with a two-run single that put the Lady Bruins ahead.

“I knew it was going to be a pretty good test, they were a solid team last year,” Northwest coach Jason Brooker said. “They had a pretty good pitcher and she threw it well. We stayed in the game and battled and it was a good team win.”

Baggett went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. She allowed two earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four.

“BriLeigh struggled at the start,” Brooker said, “but she did her job and kept us in the game.”

McCall Carlock was 2-for-3 with a double, while Alyssa Ward was 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

Trailing 3-0 in the fifth, the Lady Bruins cracked the scoreboard when Carlock’s double was followed by base hits from Ward and Bayley Marquardt.

• Murray County 5, Sonoraville 4: Ali Ausmus’ two-run double in the seventh scored Whitney Gribble and Lindsey Dunn, lifting the Lady Indians (2-0) to a home win in their Region 6-3A opener.

Gribble went 2-for-4 with an RBI and was the winning pitcher, allowing one earned run on seven hits while striking out six in a complete-game effort.

Ariel Smith and Ashlee Strong each went 2-for-3 as the Lady Indians collected 11 hits. Ausmus also had an RBI in the fourth inning.

• Results from Southeast Whitfield’s scheduled home game against Heritage-Catoosa were not reported by The Daily Citizen’s deadline.

Volleyball

• Southeast picked up a season-opening victory over host Gordon Lee in a best-of-five match, winning 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 27-25.

Southeast coach Bethany Kenemer said the Lady Raiders had a strong showing from their three seniors as Yolanda Melgarejo finished with 13 kills, Gaby Gonzalez added 11 kills and Allison Hamlin had five kills. Setter Angie Purkey had 28 assists, while Melisa Fraire had 13 digs and seven aces.

The format was switched to best-of-five after Mount Paran Christian, scheduled to make the night a tri-match, did not show up.

• Coahulla Creek dropped a pair of matches to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 25-14, 25-11, and host Heritage, 26-24, 25-22.

Nikki Ross led Coahulla Creek’s attack for the night with 14 kills; she also had six blocks. Gabrielle Henderson added eight kills, while setter Taylor Smith had 14 assists and two aces.

• Murray County fell in a season-opening tri-match at home, losing 25-10, 25-16 to Ridgeland and 25-19, 25-20 to Christian Heritage.

Murray County’s Heidy Cabral finished the day with 18 assists, while Catherine Hill added eight digs and Jenna Stanley had a pair of kills and three digs.

Christian Heritage did not report individual statistics or its score versus Ridgeland by The Daily Citizen’s deadline.