Diamonds prove to be a Lady Dragon’s best friend
Lady Dragon Taylor Sherwood delivers an offering to an Oak Ridge batter last Thursday. Sherwood took the 14-3 win. (photo:Richard Evans )
“We’re hitting pretty well one through nine right now and that’s something we didn’t have last year.” said Coach Leonard Sams. “We can execute one through nine and get on base.”
Clinton started the scoring early as it posted two runs in the bottom of the first. Marissa Eccles reached on an error and Tomi Taylor singled to center to move her to second. Lynlee Adkins then singled to score both runners.
Leading 2-0, the Lady Dragons added six runs in the bottom of the second. Bree McKamey singled and moved to second on an error. She later scored when Eccles singled. Eccles then scored on a hit by Taylor. Taylor scored on a hit by Adkins. Adkins scored on a hit by Cheryl Breeden. Heaven Britt-Kimbriel then singled to advance Breeden. Taylor Sherwood then walked to load the bases. McKamey then singled to score Breeden and Britt-Kimbriel.
The Lady Wildcats scored a run in the top of the third on a home run to left by shortstop Kaylie Jennings but Clinton answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Sarah Burton singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Taylor singled to advance Burton to third. Taylor then stole second and both runners scored on a double to right by Adkins. Breeden then walked and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Adkins then scored on a wild pitch.
Oak Ridge added a run in the top of the fourth, but again the Lady Dragons answered with three runs.
McKamey led off with a single and stole second. She scored on a base hit by McKaylah Cantrell, who moved to second on a wild pitch. Burton then singled to advance the runner to third and then stole second. Two batters later, Adkins singled to score both runners.
The Lady Wildcats added a run in the top of the fifth but the game was called under the 10-run rule.
Sherwood got the start in the circle and picked up the win. She went three innings and allowed one earned run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
McKamey pitched two innings of relief and allowed one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts and one walk. She was also 3-3 with two RBI at the plate.
Adkins finished 4-4 with a double and five RBI while Taylor was 3-4 with an RBI. Breeden was 1-2 with an RBI and Britt-Kimbriel was 1-3 with two RBI.
Over the weekend, the Lady Dragons went 4-0 at Cookeville. They were supposed to play in a Friday-Saturday tournament but the Friday games were rained out. Instead, participating teams just played in a play day type format.
“The biggest thing there was offense. We were seeing girls that could really bring it [pitching],” said Sams.
The Lady Dragons beat Central Magnet 4-0 in four innings.
Clinton took a 1-0 lead in the second and added three in the third.
Burton was 2-2 with a run scored while Eccles and Breeden were each 1-2 with an RBI.
Sherwood pitched 1.2 innings and picked up the win. McKamey came on in relief and got the save. She pitched 1.1 innings and struck out three.
Clinton then beat Macon County 3-1.
The Lady Dragons went up 2-0 in the third and added a run in the fifth. Macon County scored its only run in the fourth.
Taylor went 1-3 with two RBI while Eccles was 2-3. Burton, Adkins, and Britt-Kimbriel each had a hit in the win.
McKamey got the win, pitching all five innings. She allowed no earned runs on four hits and had two strikeouts.
Clinton then beat Father Ryan 12-0, scoring all 12 runs in the first inning.
Britt-Kimbriel went 2-2 with two RBI and Breeden was 1-1 with two RBI. Sherwood was 1-2 with an RBI and Adkins drew three walks and had an RBI. Burton was 2-2 with two runs scored.
McKamey got the win. She pitched two innings and allowed no runs on two hits with three strikeouts.
The Lady Dragons picked up their fourth win in the tournament with a 4-2 win over Oak Forest.
Clinton took a 2-0 lead in the second and added a run in the third. The Lady Bengals scored twice in the bottom of the third cut the Lady Dragons advantage to 3-2.
Clinton added an insurance run in the top of the fourth.
Sherwood was 1-1 with an RBI and Taylor added an RBI as well. Adkins and Burton each went 1-2.
Sherwood got the start and the win. She pitched three innings and allowed no earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
McKamey pitched one inning and got the save. She allowed no hits, no runs, and had one strikeout.
The Lady Dragons fell to visiting Heritage in extra-innings Monday by a score of 6-5.
The Lady Mountaineers scored two in the top of the first. Burton and Adkins reached on singles but were left stranded in the bottom of the inning.
The score until the top of the fifth when Heritage added a run. Taylor, Adkins, and Breeden each singled to load the bases in the bottom of the inning but a strikeout and a double play ended the threat.
The Lady Mountaineers added two runs in the top of the sixth to go up 5-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cantrell reached on a one-out single. Burton then moved her to second with a base hit. Eccles then got aboard via a hit by pitch to load the bases. Taylor was then hit by a pitch to score Cantrell and keep the bases loaded. Adkins then drove in two with a double. She moved to third on a base hit by Breeden and scored to tie the game when Britt-Kimbriel grounded to short.
Heritage scored a run in the top of the eighth to take the 6-5 lead.
Sherwood led off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit but was left stranded as the Lady Dragons rally failed.
“We just could not get that timely hit when we needed it. We had more hits than they did but we just could not get the runs in. We only gave up one unearned run. We had a couple of errors that really hurt us. We had a couple of girls out tonight that will be back hopefully in about a week and that would have made a difference,” said Sams.
He added that after the speed of the pitching they faced Saturday it took the Lady Dragons a bit to get adjusted to the slower velocity of Heritage pitching.
“When we needed to execute, we didn’t,” said Sams.
Clinton had 12 hits to nine for Heritage.
McKamey took the loss. She pitched eight innings and allowed one earned run on nine hits with six strikeouts and six walks.
The Lady Dragons host Webb Thursday at 5:30 p.m. They will play in a weekend tournament in Knoxville Friday and Saturday. Opponents and times are to be announced. They visit Halls next Tuesday (March 29) at 6 p.m.