Woodland dropped to .500 on the season after losing twice on Friday and three more times on Saturday, a stretch of games that included three shutouts. The Lady ’Cats lost to Ringgold, 5-0, and Hillgrove, 7-5, on the first day of the tournament before falling to host Allatoona, 3-0, St. Pius, 9-8, and North Gwinnett, 8-0.
In Woodland’s tournament-opening loss to the Lady Tigers, Casey Bucy gave up three earned runs on 10 hits and one walk. Leading hitters for the Lady ’Cats were Bucy, 1 for 3; Cheyanne Burt, 1 for 2; and Darby Cagle, 1 for 2.
The next game nearly proved fruitful for Woodland, which lost by just a couple of runs. Brooke Rogers surrendered four earned runs on nine hits and one walk.
Paving the way for the Lady ’Cats offensively was Taylor Braselton, 2 for 4, home run, two runs, RBI; Lacey Fritz, 1 for 2, two runs; Bailey Roberts, 2 for 3, double, run, two RBIs; and Jessie Michaels, 1 for 3, RBI. Braselton’s opposite-field homer is the first at the high school level for the Woodland junior.
On Saturday morning, the Lady ’Cats were shut out for the second time in three games although Bucy gave up no earned runs to go along with seven hits, five strikeouts and one walk.
Braselton went 2 for 3; Kat Moreno went 1 for 2 with two walks; and Bucy, Sydney Flowers, Roberts and Michaels each finished the game 1 for 3.
Another narrow defeat was in store for Woodland in its fourth tourney game as the Lady ’Cats could not pull out a win over the Lady Golden Lions, despite leading 7-2 late in the game. Rogers earned the loss.
Woodland had its best performance of the weekend, with offensive contributions coming from Moreno, 5 for 5, double, three runs; Roberts, 2 for 5, run, RBI; Fritz, 1 for 5, two RBIs; Bucy, 3 for 4, run, two RBIs; Bridgett Hampton, 1 for 3, double, run, RBI; Michaels, 1 for 4, run; Burt, 1 for 4, RBI; Katie Harris, 2 for 4, double, RBI; and Brandee Godfrey, 1 for 3, run, RBI.
The Lady ’Cats closed out the tournament by nearly getting no-hit. Bucy, who went 1 for 1, prevented that from happening. The senior pitcher gave up four earned runs and seven hits while striking out two.
Woodland (8-8, 2-2) returns to Region 7-AAAA play Thursday with a 5:55 p.m. home game against Sequoyah (3-4, 2-1), which defeated the Lady ’Cats 5-2 on Aug. 16.