Cass Lady Colonels sophomore pitcher Courtney Bailey commanded the game from the mound and also produced half of her team's runs Tuesday in an 8-4 home win against South Cobb.
Coach Greg Hight said Bailey pitched a complete game, striking out eight while giving up seven hits and one walk. Bailey was 3 for 3 with four RBIs and a triple.
"She had a good day," Hight said.
Cass held a 4-0 edge after one run in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings, but the Lady Eagles rallied with three runs in the top of the sixth to trim the lead to one.
The Lady Colonels extended the lead with a four-run sixth before South Cobb added a run in the seventh to close out the scoring.
"We played well at times, kind of up and down offensively, but we hit the ball good at times," Hight said. "Courtney stung the ball hard every time."
"South Cobb, they were a very athletic team [with] speed; they [were] quick," he added.
Kelsey Holoway had two hits and two RBIs for Cass while teammates Hope Fetzer, Kiyana Farmer and Allison Story added a hit apiece. Bethany Ballard drove in a run on her sacrifice fly.
Next up for the Lady Colonels is a matchup with cross-county and Region 7A-AAAA rival Woodland, which beat Rome, 13-2, on Tuesday. Cass (9-16, 1-5), which plays its final sub-region game of the regular season next Tuesday vs. Sequoyah, is hoping to strengthen its position before the region tournament begins Saturday, Oct. 1.
"We have to play good defensively," Hight said of his team's impending matchups. "We know right now we're playing for position in the region tournament."
The Lady Colonels lost to the Lady Wildcats, 3-1, Aug. 25 and to the Lady Chiefs, 3-2, Aug. 30 but have gone 7-4 in their last 11 games, including two wins in the Score Tournament in Chattanooga last weekend.
River Ridge 6, Adairsville 1
The Adairsville Lady Tigers yielded runs in each inning to start their softball game Tuesday at River Ridge, a game they lost, 6-1, against the top team in Region 7A-AA.
"We gave up a run in the first three innings, one run apiece, and battled [but] made some small mistakes," Adairsville coach Jacob Travis said. "We're showing signs of life. We're still improving and playing better each night. ... We gotta find a way to fix a couple of things."
"We're finding ourselves in a different position than we were a month ago," Travis continued. "We're feeling we're going in the right direction these last couple of weeks."
Cassidy Howren went 3 for 4 with a double and a run, and Kaleigh Liscio went 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI.
The Lady Tigers (6-17, 3-6) host Pepperell (9-6, 5-4) Thursday at 5 p.m.
Villa Rica 4, Excel Christian 1
Excel Christian Academy let a slim lead slide away Tuesday in its softball game at Villa Rica, who came back to win, 4-1.
"We had the lead up until the fifth inning and we made a couple of errors," first-year Lady Eagles coach Kandace Bruno said. "That first girl hit a line drive to our center fielder and she dropped it. They sacrificed bunted her over ... and then the run scored on an error. The ball was hit to second base. My second baseman got a glove on it, but it skidded into the outfield."
Excel would have been out of the inning, Bruno noted, but the extra at-bats allowed the Lady Wildcats to open the game up from there.
"Overall, we played well defensively, except for that one inning," Excel's coach added.
Emily Willingham had a hit and run for the Lady Eagles, and Allye Ingram, whom Bruno said pitched well, had Excel's only RBI of the game.
The Lady Eagles play at Trion Thursday. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.