The Cleveland Lady Raiders tuned up for today’s final District 5-AAA meeting with a well played 4-1 win over Hixson Tuesday at Brenda McKenzie Stadium.The Lady Raiders made the most of their six hits in the come-from-behind victory scoring a single run in the bottom of the third and three more in the fifth to seal the win. Cleveland got a complete game from southpaw hurler Yoshi Hooks who was backed up by a defense highlighted by a sparking, rally killing stop by Courtney Delay. The senior shortstop laid out for a soft fly in front of second, made the catch and quickly fired to first catching a Lady Wildcat in mid steal for the 6-3 twin killing.

“Yoshi pitched great which she has pretty much been doing,” said Cleveland coach Mark Stephenson. “The key today was we caught the ball. We caught it. We threw it. We made the routine plays. We made a couple of really great plays. You’ve got to have those sometimes. That’s how you win softball games. I’m real proud of the girls, they did a great job.”

For the game, Hooks spread out five hits, fanned four, walked one and hit one. Abi Dye, Hooks, Delay and Jasmine Martin all hit safely for the Lady Raiders.“Today we put it all together. We got a couple of key hits when we had to have them which we haven’t been getting,” said Stephenson.After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Lady Raiders came back in the bottom of the third to tie the game.Katie Kirkpatrick led off the frame with a walk and hustled to third on a screaming double down the right-field line by Hooks. Kirkpatrick scored two batters later on Delay’s single to center.

The Lady Raiders loaded the bases twice in the lower portion of the fifth and took the lead for good with three runs.Hooks banged a 1-out single and Jacora Parker followed with a walk and Delay’s second hit of the game loaded the bases. Hooks raced home to make it 2-1 on a passed ball and Parker and Delay crossed the plate on a Martin single to nail down the win.“We need to beat McMinn tomorrow to get a better seed in the tournament. It’s going to be a tough game. It’s always hard to go up there and win,” Stephenson said. “We need to play like this in the tournament. If we can play like this then we’ve got a chance. That’s all we can do.”

CLEVELAND 4, HIXSON 1

Hixson 100 000 0 — 1 4 1

Cleveland 001 030 0 — 4 6 1

WP: Yoshi Hooks. LP: Brianna Byerly. 2B: Hooks (C). Highlights: Hooks 2-3, Courtney Delay 2-3 (C). Records: Cleveland 9-17, 2-9 District 5-AAA.