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Katelyn Boman celebrates with WCHS head coach Drew Owens moments after scoring the winning run in a 4-3 victory over Cherokee Bluff. (Photo/Mark Turner)
The White County Lady Warriors might be the hottest high school softball team in North Georgia.
The Lady Warriors are currently on a eight-game winning streak and 20-3 overall heading in today's road matchup with West Hall. In the past week, the Lady Warriors have picked up three 7-AAA wins, including knocking off the two teams standing in their way for a home series in the opening round of the Class AAA tournament in October.
Last Friday, the Lady Warriors a posted 4-3 win over Cherokee Bluff in eight innings, and then on Monday, rallied from an early three-run deficit to get past East Forsyth by a 5-4 decision.
The Lady Warriors win over East Forsyth was the first region loss for the Lady Broncos, dropping them to 16-1 in region play, while WCHS and Cherokee Bluff are in a battle for the regular season runner-up spot.
The Lady Warriors took over second place Tuesday with a 5-0 win over Gilmer to improve to 15-3 in region play, while Cherokee Bluff suffered a 10-1 loss to East Forsyth to fall to 14-4. WCHS and Bluff both have three games left, with the two teams meeting next Tuesday in the final game of the regular season.
“The approach I take with the kids is the next game is the biggest game of the year, I don't care who it is,” WCHS head coach Drew Owens said. “We've got to keep moving forward. We need to win out, but you just don't know what's going to happened the last week. If we can win the next two, then when we go to Cherokee Bluff for that last game, it's going to be a barn burner. We may need to rent some buses, get a bunch of people down there and pack the stands.”
East Forsyth
On Monday, the Lady Warriors trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning before rallying fo the 5-4 win over East Forsyth.
WCHS scored three times in the bottom of the seventh inning, with junior Katelyn Boman delivering the walk-off hit with a single up the middle, scoring Liana O'Kelly with the winning run.
“The energy (of the team) was insane,” said Boman, who also scored the winning run against Cherokee Bluff. “It just feels so good to break their undefeated record. I don't even know how many games they had won, but the one (loss) is us and that's just amazing.”
In the seventh, Emma Hare got things going with a single. Gabby Whiddon hit a line drive to right field for a hit, and the ball got past the Lady Broncos' right fielder, allowing Hare to score and Whiddon to end up at third base.
O'Kelly tied things up at 4-4, ripping the first pitch she saw in into right center to score Whiddon with the tying run.
O'Kelly moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Reagan Dunagan, and one batter later, Boman came through through in the clutch with a two-out hit that set off a celebration on the field.
“I knew it was really important for me to get the ball on the ground,” Boman said. “Hitting a home run would have been so much fun, but I was just trying to get a base hit; just wanted to get a hit. She's a good pitcher, she has a good rise ball going on. I was pretty confident about the at-bats I'd had (earlier in the game).
Whiddon had two hits and two walks, scored twice and stole a base in the win, while Hare had two hits and scored a run. Boman finished with a hit, RBI, and stolen base, with O'Kelly posting a hit, RBI, and run. Rachel Carter had a hit and scored a run, and Kate Sartain had a hit.
Annika Vandiver picked up the win in relief, working the final 3.1 innings. She blanked the Lady Broncos during the relief stint, allowing three hits while striking out four.
O'Kelly worked the first 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits with four strikeouts.
Cherokee Bluff
The Lady Warriors needed extra innings to get past the Lady Bears, scoring once in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 4-3 win.
With the game tied at 3-3 and one out in the eighth inning, Boman tripled on the first pitch she saw from Cherokee Bluff's Izzy Herren to get the rally started.
“The energy in the dugout was so high, we were all screaming at the top of our lungs,” Boman said shortly after scoring the winning run. “It's probably was probably the highest energy we've had. It was amazing. I knew I needed to get on base so bad. I needed to get the ball on the ground; if I popped it up, that was it. I was thinking 'don't swing at anything above your elbows.' I wanted to take her rise ball away from her and not swing at that pitch.”
One pitch later, Vandiver lined a shot into right field to score Boman for the win.
“I was thinking something on the right side so she (Boman) could score,” Vandiver said. “I knew right when she threw, that was my pitch, so I hit it. I was looking for something inside. She threw it inside middle, so that's my pitch.”
Owens said finding ways to beat high quality teams like East Forsyth and Cherokee Bluff will help them once they get into the state tournament.
“When you win the games where your are far superior to the other team, those games aren't the ones that will put us in Columbus (Elite 8), but winning these kind of games are the games that will help get us to Columbus,” Owens said. “As a team, we needed it. Even when you know talent, you still need some breaks. If we can catch on fire right here at the end of the season, I'm going to be alright with that.”
Boman had four hits in the win, with a run and stolen base, while Hare finished with two hits, two runs, and a stolen base.
Vandiver had two hits, Whiddon had a hit and two RBI, and Dunagan had a hit and drove in a run.
O'Kelly had a hit and scored a run, and Sartain had a hit.
Vandiver pitched a complete game to earn the win. She allowed six hits in eight innings, with no walks and four strikeouts. Vandiver retired the final eight batters of the game to seal the win.
Vandiver said pitching well against Bluff was important after she had a tough outing the day before against Lumpkin County.
“I had a rough game last night; got taken out in the first inning,” Vandiver said. “I knew I had to do it today. The last game with them (Bluff) we lost in 10 innings. I knew we had to come back and beat them, and I felt confident.”
Gilmer
The Lady Warriors were coming off two huge wins when they took the field Tuesday against Gilmer, and it showed as they struggled at times on the way to a 5-0 win on Senior Day.
Before the game, the teams three seniors – Vandiver, O'Kelly, and Dunagan – were honored during a short ceremony.
Vandiver picked up the win with six innings of work, allowing three hits and a walk with two strikeouts. O'Kelly worked a perfect inning in the seventh to close out the win.
Whiddon had two hits, including a double that hit off the top of the left field fence, drove in two runs and scored a run. Vandiver had two hits and an RBI, and Hare had two hits and scored two runs. Sartain had a hit, scored a run, and drove in a run, while Cree Cantrell added a hit. Dunagan had an RBI and Carter scored a run.
Final week
As the team heads into the final three games of the regular season, Owens is hoping the late season momentum will carry the team on a deep run in the state playoffs.
“We've had a couple of losses this year where we just couldn't get a break,” Owens said. “I told the girls yesterday, 'if we are going to catch some breaks, I want it to be right here in this last third (of the region schedule) and in the playoffs'. I don't know if I've ever seen a happier set of girls just to be on the field. The bond we have as a team is unbelievable and that wins games for us. I just excited for the girls. I'm super proud of the girls. I want success for them. That's the main thing.”