Phoenix remain perfect, atop Region standings
Sonoraville has a new strikeout king. Or, in this case, new strikeout queen.
Senior pitcher Taylor Long is now the all-time strikeout leader in school history after setting the record Monday night in the first inning of her team’s 3-2 walk-off win over LaFayette in their second 3-A Region 7 game of the summer.
Long’s second strikeout of that first inning was her 642nd K as a member of the Phoenix and broke the school record formerly held by Kristin Davis, who finished her career with 641.
Despite Long’s excellence in the circle, the games are getting tougher for the still-unbeaten Phoenix who entered Thursday’s Regional clash with Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe looking to stay atop the league standings with their fourth consecutive win.
And teams are looking to take the defending league champion down, based on the early results. Although no one has done it yet.
The Phoenix needed a run in the bottom of the seventh to get past LaFayette and then needed 10 innings Tuesday to defeat Coahulla Creek, 3-1.
In the win over LaFayette, the game was tied at 2 in the bottom of the seventh inning when freshman AnLeigh Shirley hammered a two-out triple to the wall that scored pinch-runner Peyton McReynolds from first base, setting off a huge celebration for the winners near home plate.
Sonoraville scored first against in the contest, notching two runs in the bottom of the second inning.
It remained a 2-0 game until the sixth when the Lady Ramblers scored a pair of runs to even the score.
Long got the pitching win, striking out 16 LaFayette hitters and allowing just two hits and one earned run.
The Phoenix finished with six hits. Shirley’s triple and a Long double were the only extra base hits.
Just 24 hours later, Sonoraville found itself in another nail-biter as they and Coahulla Creek squared off in a real pitcher’s duel.
The Creek scored first, pushing a run home in the second to take a 1-0 lead. The Colts would hold that margin until the fourth when the
Phoenix scored to tie the game at 1.
From there, things were tough and tight for both teams the rest of the way with each missing out on a couple of opportunities to take the lead.
But in the top of the tenth, the Phoenix scored twice to break the stalemate and run their record to 7-0 on the year.
The Phoenix will look to remain perfect in League Play on Monday when they travel to Adairsville.