By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Cherokee County High School junior pitcher Abby Lea was cruising right along in the circle against Oneonta on Tuesday. She held the Lady Redskins scoreless through six innings, but she ran into trouble in the top of the seventh with two outs.
Oneonta had two runners on and left fielder Matelyn Jackson at the plate. Lea hung a pitch that Jackson smoked over the center field fence to tie the game.
But Lea’s younger sister, freshman left fielder Macy Lea, made sure her older sibling’s solid effort in the circle didn’t go to waste. With no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, she brought home first baseman Grayson Tucker from third for the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to left, lifting the Lady Warriors to a thrilling 4-3 area softball victory.
The Lady Warriors (18-9) clinched the right to host the upcoming Class 4A, Area 12 tournament with the win.
“We had to pick Abby up right there,” Macy Lea said. “I was nervous, but I had confidence in myself. When I got up there, I knew what I had to do. I went up there and just let the barrel hunt. I was hoping it was far enough for Grayson to come home and score. I was cheering her on all the way to first base. It was a really cool moment. I had fun. I can’t get the smile off my face. I knew I could do it.”
“She always tells me she’s got my back, and right there she showed it,” Abby Lea said. “I was proud of her.”
Cherokee County coach Brad Weaver is proud of the resiliency the Lady Warriors showed.
“Games like this make you better,” he said. “This game right here shows us how to fight back when something goes wrong. When adversity hits, how do you respond? I know it took us to the end to get there, but we finally found it. Us coaches, we have no doubt in these girls. We had no doubt they would come back and finish it off.”
The game was scoreless through 4 ½ innings before the Lady Warrior bats finally put something together. Center fielder Samantha Stubbs led off the bottom of the fifth with a bunt single. Senior KarLee Jolly moved her over to second on a sacrifice bunt, then Abby Lea reached on an error at short, bringing third baseman Emma Hill to the plate.
Hill smacked a double to left to score Stubbs for the first run of the game. After catcher Lanie Williams popped out to Oneonta pitcher Ashtyn Sligh for the second out of the inning, shortstop Anna Walker delivered a two-run double to right to put the Lady Warriors up 3-0.
Down to their last at-bat in the top of the seventh, the Lady Redskins rallied. Sligh walked to lead off the inning, followed by a single to center from third baseman Kylee Smith.
Abby Lea dug in to strike out Harper Simmons and Gracyn Clifton. She had two strikes on Jackson before she sent a pitch over the fence to tie the game at 3.
With momentum switched to Oneonta’s side, the Lady Warriors got it back on defense in the top of the eighth. Abby Lea retired catcher Maddie Gargus on a pop up, then Lady Warrior second baseman Raechel Russell ended the inning on a diving catch on a line drive and a grounder.
In the bottom of the eighth, Tucker led off with a double to center. Russell followed with a single to left, then Macy Lea brought Tucker home on her fly out to left.
“When she (Jackson) hit that home run, we weren’t worried at all because our energy was up,” Macy Lea said. “We were just ready to go. I feel like that just lit a fire under us even more. We battled.”
Abby Lea earned the win after working all eight inning, giving up three runs on four hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts.
Russell and Stubbs both had a pair of hits for the Lady Warriors. Stubbs also walked.
“We were down a player today. Audrey (Haygood) got sick and couldn’t be here, but we had players step up with big-time plays,” Weaver said. “Samantha hasn’t been in the lineup a whole lot, but we called on her today and she showed out. It was a huge game for her and I’m proud of her. I’m proud of this whole team.”
Clifton led the Lady Redskins with a pair of hits, including a double. Sligh suffered the loss after giving up all four Lady Warrior runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
