Kinsey LiscioCHICKAMAUGA, Ga. — If pitching is the name of the game in softball’s postseason, then Calhoun and Gordon Lee are well stacked for runs at new state championships.
Class AAA Calhoun, the Georgia AA champion last year, edged the top-ranked Class AA (and multiple time Class A champion) Lady Trojans 1-0 Tuesday as junior pitcher Kinsey Liscio fired a nine-inning no-hitter. The hard-throwing right-hander mixed a crisp curveball with a nasty rising fastball to strike out 20 Gordon Lee batters.
Her first 10 outs were via strikeout, as was her last when she got Shay Wooten with the tying and potential winning runs in scoring position in the ninth.
“Wow, Kinsey was awesome,” Calhoun coach Diane Smith exclaimed. “My girls never gave up and we played decent defense, and that’s a big key for us. That’s where we’ve lost is when we give up unearned runs, so this is a good time to see a game like this. The region tournament starts Saturday, so it’s nice to tune up like this against a very good team.”
Gordon Lee ace Emily Armour (four hits, 14 strikeouts) matched Liscio inning for inning, though she allowed a baserunner in each of the nine innings and four times stranded a Calhoun runner at third base. However, in the ninth, with the international tiebreak rule in effect and Calhoun’s Taylor Kelly beginning the inning at second base, it took just one batter to change the game. Emily Mitchell put down a perfect bunt that Armour somehow managed to stretch out and field as she charged hard to the first-base line.