Whitwell's Carley Long pitches against Marion County Thursday, April 7, 2016 at Whitwell HIgh School.WHITWELL, Tenn. - The sky was dark all around for a good portion of Thursday's District 6-A high school softball game at Whitwell. There was a light sprinkle of rain around the start of the game, but mostly what was raining were Marion County hits.
The Lady Warriors pounded out 18, highlighted by Sidney Minter's grand slam, and defeated the Lady Tigers 10-2.
In addition to Minter's blast in the sixth, winning pitcher Harlie Jordan had a double in the fourth inning. The rest of Marion County's hits were singles, but few could be considered cheap.
"They've worked so hard in the offseason," said Randy Ellis, the Marion girls' basketball coach who also is guiding the softball team this season. "A lot of these girls have played together for four years. One thing this team can do is hit. It's a special group of girls right here."
Seven Lady Warriors had multiple hits Thursday. The other starters, Savannah Thomas and Savannah Parker, each had a hit and scored a run, and Thomas had an RBI.
"You have to hit your locations pitching-wise, and we did not," Whitwell coach Rebecca Castle said. "And you don't make errors, which we did."
The Lady Tigers made an error each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings - the sixth being a six-run uprising. Minter, who went 2-for-4 from the No. 8 spot in the order, capped the rally with her shot over the fence in left-center.
"Sidney hasn't had a great number of opportunities, but every signal I gave her was green," said Ellis, indicating she could swing away. "We see her hit every day. We know what she can do."
Jordan allowed a walk to Anna Yell with two out in the first inning but retired every other Lady Tiger the first time through the order. Whitwell's seven hits all came in the last five innings.
"I guess it took us a while to get going," said Castle, whose young squad has two seniors and one junior. "We have to play defense and we have to hit to compete with them. We knew this was a big game. I think we've got a lot of maturing to do."
Breanna Vinson and Jordan each went 3-for-5 and scored a run in the victory, with Vinson driving in one. Makayla Dalton and Haley Baker were each 2-for-4 for Marion County (16-5, 2-0), each driving in a run with Dalton scoring two and Baker scoring one.
Campbell and Erin O'Leary were both 2-for-5. Campbell had an RBI and O'Leary scored twice.
Carley Long went 2-for-3 with a double for Whitwell (6-6, 1-1). Hailey Andregg's single in the fourth drove in the Lady Tigers' first run, and Carly Terry had an RBI groundout in the sixth.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.