Lady Mavs sweep Clinton
The Anderson County Lady Mavericks earned a regular season sweep of Clinton with a 10-4 win on Tuesday.
The Lady Mavs took a 3-0 lead in the first when Gracie Webb reached on a two-out double to left and stole third. Emelia Yelencich then singled to score Webb. Mallorie Overton then singled. Both runners scored an error as Molly Muncy reached first.
The Lady Dragons got on the board in the second when Karleigh York was hit by a pitch to lead-off the inning. She later scored on a base hit by Olivia Jenkins.
In the bottom of the third, Anderson County extended its lead to 4-1 when Jada Reeves drew a lead-off walk. She stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Reeves later scored on a ground ball out by Yelencich.
Clinton made it interesting in the top of the fourth when they scored twice to cut the Lady Mavs’ edge to 4-3. Annabelle Jackson reached after being hit by a pitch. Kara Bradley then singled as did Jenkins. Lexie Cochran singled to score Jackson and Bradley but that was all the Lady Dragons could push across in the inning.
Anderson County added a run in the bottom of the fifth when Overton got a one-out double and went to third on a base hit by Muncy. Overton then scored on a sacrifice fly by Emilee Fowler.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Mavs scored five huge runs to put the game out of reach.
Makenzie Jones led-off with a base hit while Maddie Sickau and Reeves followed with singles. Webb doubled to score Jones and Sickau. Yelencich reached on an error and Reeves scored. Muncy then tripled to score Webb and Yelencich.
Clinton opened the seventh with threat as Cochran led-of with a single and Skylar Newby singled. Sophie Seivers drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Nikki Jones then walked to score Cochran but Hannah Bruce closed the door and the Lady Mavs picked up their 21st win of the season.
Giles got the start and the win as she pitched six innings and allowed four runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts.
Overton went 3-4 with a double.
Muncy was 2-3 with a triple and two RBI while Webb was 2-4 with a double and two RBI.
Yelencich was 1-4 with two RBI and Sickau was 2-4.
“We had six pop-ups...we settled down toward the end and started hitting the ball on the ground and started finding holes. That’s the one thing we did so well at their place. We hit hard line drives and missile ground balls. Today it was pop-ups and long fly balls. In high school people can catch pop-ups,” said Allen Russell, head coach of the Lady Mavs.
“Giles threw a good game but got a little tired there at the end. It was great to have our seniors play pretty much the whole game,” he said.
“We hit the ball this game which was huge for our confidence and made some great defensive plays. I told the girls, this is a game we can build on. We had one bad inning but the fact that they switched pitchers was a sign of great respect for us,” said Lecia Watson, head coach of the Lady Dragons.
On Wednesday, Anderson County beat visiting Union County 6-2.
The Lady Mavs scored one in the third and four in the fourth. They added an insurance run in the sixth for the non-district win.
Bruce picked up the win as she went four innings and allowed no runs on one hit. She was also 2-3 from the plate.
Giles got the save as she pitched three innings and allowed two runs on three hits.
Sickau was 3-4 with a homerun, a double, and an RBI while Overton was 2-4 with two RBI.
Fowler was 1-3 with an RBI.
On Thursday, Anderson County topped visiting Kingston by a score of 4-2.
The Lady Mavs took a 2-0 lead in the third only to see the Lady Yellow Jackets tie the game in the fifth. Anderson County plated two in the sixth for the win.
Bruce pitched five and third for the win. She allowed no runs on three hits while striking out five.
Giles got the save as she pitched one and a third innings. She allowed two runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
Muncy was 1-2 with a triple and two RBI while Webb was 1-3 with two RBI.
Sickau, Fowler, and Overton each collected a hit.
The Lady Mavs open play in the district tournament on Wednesday at Halls when they face Karns at 8 p.m.
Anderson County swept the regular season series with the Lady Beavers.
Should the Lady Mavs win, they will face the winner of the Powell-Knox Central game on Monday at 6 p.m.
If they should lose Wednesday they will face the loser the Powell-Knox Central game in an elimination game at 6 p.m. on Friday at Halls.
