MORRISTOWN — The Lady Cougar softball team hit the road for Walters State on Friday afternoon for a pair of tough Region VII Conference games with the Lady Senators. In two vastly different games, one pitcher's dual and one a slugfest, the Lady Cougars came up on the short end of both scores, 2-1 and 11-7.
Runs and hits were few and far between in game one as the Lady Senator's Ashlyn Rhyne and Lady Cougar's Meghan Smith hooked up in a classic pitcher's dual. The Lady Senators finally put a run on the board in the bottom of the third as Rhyne helped herself with a solo home run for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Cougars tied the game in the top of the sixth as Paige Smith went downtown for a solo homer (the only Lady Cougar hit of game one) of her own to tie the contest at 1-1. The Lady Senators managed to get a pair of baserunners on in their last at-bat in the bottom of the seventh and Lauren Denton plated the game winner with a sacrifice fly to centerfield for a 2-1 win.
Game two was the polar opposite of game one as the teams combined for 18 runs, 24 hits and eight errors.
The Lady Cougars took their only lead of the day in the top of the first as Abby O'Rear and Kelsey Baker each knocked in a run for a 2-0 lead.
It didn't last long though as the home team came right back in the bottom of the first with a four spot for a 4-2 lead. Cleveland State tied the game in the second as Madison McKinney singled in a pair of runs, but it was all Lady Senators after that as they put six more runs on the board in the fourth and fifth innings via the long ball. Autumn Silvey hit a two-run homer in the fourth while Haley Miles and Brittany Heffner hit a two-run dinger each in the fifth as the lead went to 10-4.
Cleveland State chipped away at the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth and another in the seventh, but the rally fell short as the Lady Senators took both games.
Katie Morris went the distance to pick up the win for Walters State while Casey Griffin suffered the loss for Cleveland State (17-11, 3-3).
The Lady Cougars will host Motlow State (non conference) on Tuesday and Gadsden State on Wednesday with both doubleheaders starting at 2:00.
