Dramatic Game Leads to Lady Canes Win

The Monticello Lady Hurricane softball team traveled to Oglethorpe County last Tuesday for their second region matchup of the year to start a busy week of play. The week also included a trip to play Prince Avenue Christian and a make-up game against rival Putnam County.

The first game of the week was a battle with Oglethorpe scoring in the bottom half of the first after a leadoff single. The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth, when Bailey Rosine coaxed a leadoff walk, followed by Gracie Roper earning her way on with another patient at-bat putting runners on first and second with no outs. Kylee Schell promptly laced a line drive to the fence that went for a double and scored Rosine. A fielder’s choice ground out nailed Roper at the plate, and two groundouts ended the inning with a runner stranded at third.

The Lady Canes had their chances, putting two runners on base almost every inning, but not able to come through with the clutch hit until the top of the seventh. Mackenzie Diaz led off with a double after fouling off a couple of pitches, and Kelsey Vining looped a single into right that scored Diaz to give the team a 2-1 lead in the last inning of regulation.

Oglethorpe led off the bottom half of the inning with a double, and after a sacrifice bunt advanced her to third, they brought in a pinch hitter, who hit a ball that just glanced off the glove of a diving Haven Cannon at third, bringing in the game tying run. Schell was able to strike out the next batter for the final out of the inning.

A quiet eighth inning led to an exciting ninth, where after a fly out by Hailey Roper, Diaz again came through. This time on the first offering of the at-bat, driving a missile of a line drive over the wall in center field for a go-ahead home run. The first of the season for Diaz, and second of her career. This made the score 3-2.

Schell came out strong for the Canes to finish off the game, getting three straight batters to fly out. She finished the complete game win for the Canes going all nine innings with only 80 pitches thrown, 61 for strikes. She gave up seven hits, with no earned runs and no walks, while striking out four.

Diaz finished her day at the plate going 4 for 5, with a double and the game winning homer, also scoring two of the three Hurricane runs.

The next game on the schedule was against Prince Avenue, the number one team in Class A, Division 1, carrying a 17-0 record. The final of that game was 11-1 Prince.

A few positives from this game as the team continues to grow were the fact that the Lady Canes scored on Prince, something that was not accomplished last year in the first year in the region with them as an opponent, and played five innings as well. Although this may not sound like much, this is one of the stronger teams in the state, at least in the smaller classifications, the girls played well, and kept their heads up and fighting the whole time.

The final game of the week was a rematch with Putnam County. In the previous game between the two, the Lady Canes pulled out the win, 16-1.

This one was to be no different, with them scoring early and often, and winning by a margin of 13-1. The ladies were able to manufacture these runs courtesy of 15 hits and four walks, coupled with Putnam errors.

Leadoff hitter Hailey Roper led the way with three hits in four at-bats, while scoring three runs and stealing two bases. Diaz had another big game, going two for three with three runs batted in on a triple and a double. She also pitched a complete game win, allowing only one earned run on four hits while striking out three and only walking one This moved their record back over .500 at 9-8 for the season and 1-2 in region before taking on Social Circle this week.