Heritage pinch runner Kurston Henry (25) celebrates with Katie Pritchett (28) at the plate in the bottom of the 7th inning defeating Northwest Whitfield 6-5 Tuesday at Heritage.RINGGOLD, Ga. – Katie Pritchett might consider running for political office one day. When the Heritage High School senior softball player speaks, people apparently listen.
As the sole senior on a softball team with six freshman and sophomore starters, Pritchett has her team’s ear, so when she predicted a rally in the bottom of the seventh inning with the Generals down three to Northwest Whitfield, they did more than nod. They responded with four runs in the bottom half to clip the state’s top-ranked Lady Bruins, 6-5, and assumed sole possession of first place in subregion 7B-AAAA.
“I just felt we were going to do it,” Pritchett said after the second-ranked Generals (18-3, 5-0) used two hits, two walks and two critical errors to complete the wild comeback. “We’re a come-from-behind team and we always have been. We lack experience, but we have a lot of heart. I think this gives us a lot of confidence for the next time we play them. We know we can play with them.”
Northwest (15-2, 4-1) appeared to take control of the game in the top half of the final inning with three runs, one scoring on Bayli Cruse’s single and two on Macy Weeks’ two-out single. The young Generals made two errors to start the inning, making coach Steve Chattin’s worst fears come true. A great catch in left field by freshman Sydney Smith, though, kept the game close.
“I was really concerned in the top of the seventh with them having so many seniors and with us being mostly freshmen and sophomores that we let the moment get to us,” Chattin said. “It should have been three up and three down that inning, but our freshman made a great catch in left field to keep us in it. If not for that, I’m not sure we come back.”