Area schools find mixed success at SCORE tournament

Published 1:22 pm Monday, September 19, 2016

Several area softball teams finished up play at the SCORE International Tournament at Warner Park in Chattanooga. Christian Heritage picked up a pair of great pitching performances getting two wins while allowing a combined two hits.

The Lady Lions opened the day beating North Murray 2-0. Hannah Heath pitched a six-inning one-hitter with three strikeouts and no walks. Halle Poteet and Abbey Souther provided the offense with with a base hit and RBI. Heath and Emily Burns each had two hits.

Christian Heritage (9-3) followed up with a 6-0 win over Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. Erin Leonard stepped in the circle and allowed one hit over six innings with no walks and 12 strikeouts.

A five-run fifth inning broke the game open, started with a base hit from Madison Brown. Heath had a two-run double, Poteet and Ashlyn Clements each had two hits with RBIs, souther added an RBI and Adain Colter had a pair of hits.

• Dalton coach Stacy Parker has often referred to lead-off hitter Gabby Wright as his team’s spark plug, and she proved why in a pair of wins. First playing Cass, Wright led off the game with a walk, stole second, was moved to third and scored off a RBI hit from Keen Johnson. In the third inning, Wright led off with a hit, stole second, was moved to third and again was brought home by Johnson.

The Lady Cats poured it on from there leading to a 7-1 win. Olivia Whaley had a RBI double, while Brooke Belflower, Haley Jones and McCall Maret all added RBI hits.

Elly Souther got the win in the circle. She pitched five innings giving up one run on six hits with four strikeouts.

Against Heritage, Dalton had just two hits, both from Whaley, but still managed to get the 2-1 win. Both runs came without the benefit of a hit. Wright reached base on an error and Maret walked. On a double steal, the ball bounced off Wright and into the outfield, allowing the senior to speed home for a run. Next, Lauren Parker brought in Maret on a sacrifice bunt.

Alli Swinford got the win pitching six innings allowing four hits an one unearned run. She struck out four.

Dalton moves to 13-6.

• After a pair of wins Friday, Coahulla Creek stumbled on Saturday losing 3-2 for First Presbyterian and 5-3 to Social Circle.

Against First Presbyterian, the Lady Colts tied the game at 2 in the top of the seventh when Peyton Warnix singled home Sydney Ross. But they couldn’t hold down First Presbyterian in the bottom of the inning, surrendering the game-winning run.

The other Coahulla Creek run came when Lily Snyder singled in Warnix in the third inning.

Against Social Circle, the Lady Colts fell behind 4-1 after three innings and couldn’t climb back out of the hole. Karsan Gazaway had a two-run home run for the Lady Colts (12-8) while R.J. Janke also drove in a run. Madeleine Kalafut had two hits.

• Northwest Whitfield dropped two games, losing 4-1 to Wesleyan and 9-5 for First Presbyterian.

Against Wesleyan, the teams went to the sixth inning tied at 1, but Wesleyan posted three in the inning. Alyssa Ward had two hits for Northwest. Caitie Parsons took the loss, but struck out seven and allowed just six hits.

Against First Presbyterian, all the scoring was done in the first two innings. After First Presbyterian opened with three runs in the first, Northwest countered with five in the top of the second. Molly Middleton singled in two, Jolene Gale added a RBI single and two more runs scored off passed balls.

But the lead wouldn’t hold as First Presbyterian countered four six in the bottom of the second.

Northwest falls to 15-7.

CROSS COUNTRY

• Adan Rodriguez put on the best performance of his career, and it was one for the record books at Dalton High School. Rodriguez set a school record on Saturday at the Mustang Invitational, hosted by Kennesaw Mountain Invitational, at Allatoona Creek Park. Rodriguez completed the 5K course in 16 minutes, 4 seconds to take home first place.

As a team, Dalton finished second to the host Mustangs 34-43. Backing up Rodriguez was three more top 10 finishes. Lance Sotelo took sixth (17:20), Salvador Castillo finished eighth (17:44) and Alex Apodaca took 10th (17:46). Danny Castillo rounded out Dalton’s scorers finishing 18th (18:13).

On the girls side, the Lady Catamounts took third place behind Kennesaw Mountain and East Coweta. Erin Nelson was the top Lady Cat finishing seventh in 22:25. Also scoring for Dalton was Mayra Meraz (13th, 23:55), Alondra Lopez (14th, 24:10), Arly Molina (15th, 24:38) and Linda Olvera (16th, 24:48).