Lady Wildcats outlasts Campbell
The Oak Ridge High School softball team picked up its first victory of the 2026 season Friday night.
It came against a familiar foe and former District 3-4A rival, Campbell County, at home as the Lady Wildcats edged the Lady Cougars 6-4.
Oak Ridge (1-3 overall, 0-2 in District 4-4A) scored first, tallying a run in the bottom of the first inning.
A sacrifice fly by Anslee Douglas scored Bay Hensley with the game’s first run and gave the Lady Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Cougars answered and took the lead with three runs in the top of the third inning. Campbell County held a 3-1 advantage until Oak Ridge answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. After that, the Lady Wildcats never trailed again.
Leah Curran stole home in the inning, and Oak Ridge also scored two runs with the help of a pair of Campbell County defensive miscues, to take a 4-3 lead.
Taryn McGuire, who went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Hensley, who finished 2-for-3 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored, drove in a run with a single in Oak Ridge’s final at-bat in the bottom of the sixth.
Campbell County added a run in the top of the seventh, but the Lady Wildcats held on, much to the delight of third-year Coach Jeremy Gill.
“It wasn’t the dominant win that I was looking for, but at this point, a win’s a win and we’ll take it,” Gill said. “That’s not a bad Campbell County team.
“They made a couple of errors that cost them a few runs,” he said. “They have a pretty good little pitcher. She’s solid and she’s committed to go somewhere and pitch.”
OR opened the week with a 9-1 district loss at Rhea County on Tuesday, March 10, before its league game against McMinn County was rained out Thursday.
