— The Calhoun Lady Jackets completed a difficult road through the Region 6- AAA Tournament on Friday as region champs… and the decisive win came against one of their biggest rivals.
Calhoun defeated Ringgold 4-3 on Friday to clinch their fourth straight region title and finish off a comeback through the loser’s bracket to do so.
“It is just a great feeling with more meaning than I can explain,” said Calhoun coach Diane Smith of her team winning another region title. “From the first day, all of our girls wanted to win the region so badly. Every game was important to the extent that we were looking down the road. We played in tough tournaments against higher classifications and never lost a game until that first loss to Ringgold. How much did our winning it again mean? It was Priceless.”
On Friday, Calhoun (27-3) got two runs each in the second and third innings, which were sandwhiched around a lightning delay that lasted a little over an hour, to take a 4-1 lead.
Ringgold (22-5) battled back to cut the deficit to one with two runs in the sixth, but that was as all Calhoun winning pitcher Kinsey Liscio (and the weather) would allow. The senior finished with a complete game effort, as the contest was shortened to six innings due to the weather, and gave up three runs on six hits while striking out three.
Liscio’s effort followed up her completegame win over Ringgold on Thursday as the Lady Jackets defeated the Lady Tigers 6-1 to force Friday’s decisive battle. (For details on Calhoun’s wins over Ringgold and Sonoraville on Thursday. See page 2C.)
“For the past two seasons, Kinsey has been named the State Pitcher of the Year in her classification. Her performance on Thursday and Friday told this region and this state why,” said Smith. “She showed as much confidence as I have seen in her the years she has been with me. She never wavered, and her pitching with catcher Chloe Rice’s calling the pitches gave us two confident young ladies. Did I think she would hold it? I believed it more than anything in the world.”
Calhoun’s Ashlyn Barnes finished with two hits and a run scored to lead the Lady Jackets’ offense. Jana Johns and Allie Jones both had big RBI-doubles, and Chloe Rice and Emily Weatherman also had a hit and an RBI apiece. Maddie Clay also had two hits, including a double, and a run scored.
For Ringgold, Karoline Sholl had two hits and a run scored, Kiana Dale had a twoRBI single and Kaylee Womack had a double and a run scored.
The Calhoun win completed a threegame surge to finish off the region tournament after losing to Ringgold 9-5 on Wednesday to fall into the loser’s bracket. The Lady Jacket’s two wins over Ringgold on Thursday and Friday avenged two regularseason losses to the Lady Tigers along with Wednesday’s loss.
The two rivals have now met 13 times over the past two seasons, with Ringgold winning seven and Calhoun winning six, including the one that clinched the Class AAA State Championship in Columbus last season.
Smith said the fight her team showed coming back out of the loser’s bracket was something she was very proud of.
“Don’t ever believe the loser’s bracket makes no difference,” said Smith. “It presents a mountain to climb that requires all the talent, dedication, thought and effort we have. Of course Ringgold had to be confident after defeating us in our first meeting in the tournament and knowing they had defeated us twice during the regular season.