LaFAYETTE, Ga. – Thursday marked the start of the biggest seven days of the high school softball season for the LaFayette Lady Ramblers, and if the 10-9 Region 7-AAA win over Ringgold is any indication, it could be a wild one.
LaFayette (13-5, 7-1) twice had to rally from behind, the last time in the eighth inning when the Lady Ramblers scored twice to clip the Lady Tigers (5-9, 4-4). The victory keeps LaFayette tied for second in 7-AAA, with undefeated Allatoona and twice-defeated Ridgeland up next week.
“That was a North Georgia 7-AAA hard-nosed ballgame,” said LaFayette coach Glen Woodard, letting out a huge sigh of relief. “This region is tough. We lost LFO [now Class AA] in the region, but, by gosh, it’s still tough. The top five or six teams are really good. We got down early today, came back and nearly gave it away.
“That’s a great team win for us, and it keeps us one behind Allatoona and tied with Heritage. It’s a good start to a big week for us.”
Woodard’s crew had the game seemingly in hand with an 8-4 lead heading into the seventh, but the Lady Tigers put together five hits, including Erika Burkhart’s two-run double and Adrian Thorton’s two-out RBI single, to tie the game. Ringgold took a 9-8 lead in the eighth when Ericka Bynum’s leadoff double scored Allie Baker, who was on second base to start the inning with the international tiebreaker in effect.
The Lady Tigers had a chance to get more, though, but LaFayette reliever Jerrica Littlejohn left two runners on. Her hard work paid off right away as, with Littlejohn starting the inning as the runner on second, leadoff hitter Kelsie Byrd beat out the sacrifice attempt and Littlejohn scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Two batters later, with Byrd on third, Madison Queen plated the winning run on a slowly hit ground ball to shortstop.
“I got a little nervous on that at-bat,” said Queen, who had three of her team’s 13 hits and drove in three runs. “I got two strikes on me, which I hadn’t done all game, but I settled down and made contact. We’re a come-from-behind team. We may start off slowly, but we come on strong. Once we got a feel for each other, we’ve played well this year.”
MacKenzie Jones also had three hits and drove in three runs, while Kayla Godwin drove in two and Tori Hunter had a two hits for the winners. Bynum had three hits, all doubles, and Burkhart had two hits and drove in four runs for the Lady Tigers.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6296.