by Mark Turner
White County News
The Lumpkin County Indians held off a late rally by the White County Lady Warriors last week to keep a stronghold on the lead in the 6-AAA softball race.
The Lady Indians grabbed an early 2-0 lead and then held on for a 4-3 win over WCHS, pushing their record to 5-0 in region play, while the Lady Warriors (4-5) fell to 1-3 in 6-AAA games.
Lumpkin County is the lone undefeated team in region play, with Dawson County 3-1, Pickens 5-2 and North Hall 3-2 heading into this week's games.
White County is busy this week with four region games. On Wednesday, WCHS traveled to Greater Atlanta Christian for a mid-week matchup. Game score and details were unavailable at press time. This afternoon, Dawson County comes to Cleveland for a region contest, and then on Saturday, WCHS will take on GAC in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
Last week, the Lady Indians jumped out to an early lead in the first two innings thanks to a home run by Aubrey Woodson and a double by Ava Estes.
LCHS starter Taylor Burton silenced the Lady Warriors' bats during the first four innings, allowing only a single to Logan Fain among the first 12 batters she faced.
Trailing 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Fain broke up the shutout by drilling a pitch over the left field fence for a solo home run. The home run was Fain's second of the season.
Burton didn't allow any more damage in the inning and then got the Lady Warriors in order in the sixth inning to take a comfortable lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
But the Lady Warriors didn't go down without a fight. Ansley Gilreath started off the inning with a triple to the right field gap, and Brianna Woodring followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2.
Fain singled and then came around to score on a double by Addy Harris, cutting the deficit to 4-3, and knocking Burton out of the game.
Riley Dyer came into pitch and hit the Madi Brooks and then Lumpkin committed an error on a ball hit by Maddie Kate Hall. Dyer composed herself on the mound and got the last two outs to close out the narrow victory for the Lady Indians.
Tyla Nix battled her way to a complete game performance in the circle, allowing six hits and two earned runs over seven innings, and finishing with a strikeout and a walk.
Fain had three of the Lady Warriors' five hits, and is now hitting .480 this season. Gilreath and Harris accounted for the team's other two hits.