Lauren Lawson whips the ball towards home plate during a softball game at Ringgold High School in Ringgold, Ga., on August 11, 2014.
Lauren Lawson of Heritage High School slides home during the Generals’ 4-1 win over Ringgold in both Catoosa County softball teams’ season opener Monday night.RINGGOLD, Ga. – One game hardly defines a season, but for a Heritage High School softball team with mega expectations, Monday night’s opening-game 4-1 win over Catoosa County rival Ringgold was – the Generals hope – a glimpse of things to come.
Heritage rallied from a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth inning and rode the dominant pitching and hitting of senior Lauren Lawson to avenge a loss to the Lady Tigers last year. Lawson battled early control problems but allowed only five hits and struck out five in winning her duel with Ringgold ace Abby McKinney.
“We lost to them last year, so I really wanted to beat them this year,” said Lawson, who was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. “I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way, so I kept the team up in the dugout and I was able to get a big hit and gave all my effort pitching. It feels really good to beat them knowing it was such a tough loss last year.”
McKinney battled her own control issues early but managed to strand six Heritage runners in the first three innings. The game was halted for 30 minutes due to lightning in the area just as the Generals had runners at third and second with one out. When the game continued, McKinney struck out two batters to end the threat and maintain a 1-0 lead earned on her own RBI single in the first inning.
“We’ve got a veteran ballclub and we didn’t get our bunts down and we left too many runners in scoring position early, so it was a bit frustrating,” Heritage coach Steve Chattin said. “Of course, let’s give McKinney some credit. We’ve put together a pretty talented schedule as far as facing good pitchers is concerned, and we feel McKinney is as good as anybody.