As the massive storm cleanup continued less than 10 miles away, some Catoosa County residents got a break from the misery of the past two days as Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe hosted Region 7-AA foe Coosa in a doubleheader start to a best-of-three region tournament series Friday.
The visiting Eagles, though, put a damper on the evening by rallying twice to sweep the series, 13-9 and 8-7 in eight innings, and advance into next week’s Class AA state playoffs.
Game one was a harbinger of things to come for the Warriors, who were cruising up 9-4 entering the fifth inning only to see the Eagles score three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh. Adding salt to the wound were three LFO errors, five walks and a hit batter. Only three of the final nine Coosa runs were earned.
“When you’re up 9-4 – and this has been our problem all year in that we get leads on decent teams and can’t hold on – you should win those games,” LFO coach Tony Ellis said. “We shot ourselves in the foot in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“This team has never quit playing hard, but some of the guys haven’t bought into the little things you need to do to win a baseball game, and in close games those things will bite you.”