Lady Dragons play in Rockwood Tournament
Clinton’s Nikki Jones slides into a tag by Anderson County catcher Gracie Webb on Thursday.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first and never looked back. They added a run in the second, a run in the third, and three in the fourth.
Pressed into service inside the circle, Halie Martin took the loss as she went one and two-thirds and allowed five earned runs on three hits.
“Halie [Martin] just couldn’t find that umpire’s strike zone and we did not hit the ball,” said Lecia Watson, head coach of the Lady Dragons.
Clinton was limited to just two hits — singles by Sophie Seivers and Nikki Jones.
After their loss to Anderson County on Thursday (see the Lady Mavs article in this issue), the Lady Dragons traveled to Rockwood for a weekend tournament on Friday.
They fell to host Rockwood by a score of 12-7.
Clinton had the bats working early as they got out to a 3-0 lead in the first. Rockwood answered with four in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Dragons reclaimed the lead with two in the second but Rockwood plated a run to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Rockwood scored seven to take the lead and put the five-inning game out of reach although Clinton did score two in the top of the fifth.
Skylar Newby suffered the loss as she pitched four innings. She allowed one earned run on 10 hits.
The Lady Dragons committed 12 errors in the game.
At the plate, Jones was 2-4 with a triple while Karleigh York was 2-3 with two RBI.
Seivers had a hit and Kinsley Williams had an RBI.
“Errors are our biggest downfall right now. I felt like we were the better team but give Rockwood credit, they started hitting and we didn’t,” said Watson.
Clinton bounced back with a 17-1 win in three innings over Midway, also on Friday.
The Lady Dragons scored five in the first, one in the second, and exploded for 10 in the third, highlighted by a inside the park grand slam by Newby. It is her second slam of the season.
Kara Bradley got the win as she pitched three innings and allowed one run on two hits. She also went 1-3 with a double and four RBI at the plate.
Newby was 2-3 with a homerun and four RBI while Seivers was 2-2 with a double and three RBI.
York was 1-3 with an RBI and Olivia Jenkins was 1-2 with an RBI.
“We had our bats going and that was the difference,” Watson said.
On Saturday, a familiar bugaboo haunted Clinton as they committed five errors in a loss to Harriman.
The Lady Dragons scored a run in the top of the second to lead 1-0. Harriman took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when they scored four runs. They added an insurance run in the fifth.
Bradley pitched all five innings and suffered the loss. She allowed one earned run on six hits and struck out three.
Seivers and Lexi Cochran each went 1-2 with a double while Bradley accounted for the sole Clinton RBI.
The Lady Dragons wrapped up play in the Rockwood tournament with a 9-0 loss to Upperman.
The Bees scored two in the first and two in the third before adding five in the fourth.
Clinton was held to five singles with one each by Jones, Cochran, York, Jenkins, and Annabelle Jackson.
Bradley took the loss as she pitched four innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits with four strikeouts.
“We just didn’t hit in our last two games and we made too many costly errors. We were on a time limit and you’re not going to get many innings in an hour and 15 minute time limit,” Watson said.
“Kara [Bradley] pitched well in the tournament but the errors were just too much to overcome,” she said.
Clinton will host Campbell County on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. and Oak Ridge on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Lady Dragons will play in a JV tournament at Heritage on Saturday. Times and opponents are to be announced.
They visit Anderson County on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for Alzheimer’s Awareness Night at ACHS. Proceeds from the game will be donated to help battle the disease.
