The single was mightier than the home run Tuesday, at least in the late stages of the Region 3-AA high school softball semifinal at East Hamilton.
The Lady Hurricanes’ six hits in their last two at-bats were all singles, but two provided two runs each. That helped offset the back-to-back homers by Polk County in its three-run seventh inning as East Hamilton held on for a 6-5 victory.
East Hamilton (23-14) will host fellow District 6 opponent East Ridge (15-21) in today’s region final at 6 p.m. Today’s winner will play at home and the loser will travel in Friday’s sectional round, where winners advance to the Spring Fling.
The Lady Hurricanes trailed 2-1 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning, which began with consecutive bunt singles by winning pitcher Maria Walshe and Shaliyah Geathers. After an error on a sacrifice bunt in which Polk County coach Bill Triplett felt like an out should’ve been recorded at third, Kelsey Payne delivered a two-RBI single through the right side. Then McKenzie Mayes was able to dive by catcher Lily Cuzzort amid some confusion created by cleanup batter Taylor Harris’s squeeze bunt that was barely fair in front of home plate.
Mayes’ two-out, two-run single the next inning was the last of East Hamilton’s 12 hits.