Sonoraville softball wins their first 7-4A game

Using a trio of four-run innings, the Sonoraville High School softball team got into the win column Tuesday afternoon in Region 7-4A play Tuesday, defeating Northwest Whitfield County, 12-4, at The Furnace.

Coming into the game, the Bruins were 3-0 and alone in first place in the Region, but the loss dropped them into a three-way tie for first with Heritage and Central while the Phoenix stayed within range of the top four teams in the league with the victory by improving to 1-3 in the league.

The second meeting between Sonoraville and Northwest Whitfield was a complete reversal of the first game just a week earlier when the Bruins won 11-3 on their own field. Northwest followed that game by knocking off archrival Southeast Whitfield County twice to stand unbeaten in the 7-4A before the Phoenix took them down Tuesday in just five innings by the eight-run rule.

In those three wins, the Lady Bruins scored 37 runs, but that hot offense was throttled by Sonoraville’s solid pitching and defense. Along with their big night at the plate.

Starting pitcher Lily Holton got the win in the circle, working the first four innings while giving up just three hits and three runs, two of which were earned. She struck out four hitters but did issue up five walks.

Offensively, eight different girls had hits with Taylor Martin leading the way by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Ava Lambert was one of three Sonoraville players with two hits and she had a real big day, driving in four runs with a double and triple. Erin Garland and Harley Brown also had two hits apiece with Garland driving in two runs and scoring once while Brown scored twice, had a stolen base and drove in another run.

Kelly Green had one hit to drive in two runs and she reached base another time when she was hit by a pitch.

Annslee DeFoor had a hit and an RBI and scored a run as did Ashley Fountain while Emma Springfield had another hit and also scored once.

Chloe Edwards, Maddie Swancy, and Peyton McReynolds each touched home plate for the Phoenix.

The winners got things going right away, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead after one inning.

Northwest Whitfield countered with a run to get within three at 4-1, but Sonoraville opened it up with four more runs in the bottom of the third, building their lead to 8-1.

Bruins scored twice in the top of the fourth and another run in the fifth to close it to 8-4, but the Phoenix finished the game with four more in the bottom of the fifth to get an eight-run advantage and end the game early.

The Lady Phoenix, led by head coach Chad Hayes, ended this week

with a chance to get right back into the 7-4A playoff picture because they played at Central Thursday and within a win, got within one game of third place in the league and two games of the top team. (Details of that game were not available at press time).

After the three teams — NW Whitfield, Central, and Heritage — that were tied for first place in the 7-4A going into Thursday night’s action with three league games scheduled, Cedartown was in fourth place at 2-2 and a game ahead of Sonoraville.

Southeast Whitfield County was in sixth place at 0-4, but hoping to play the role of spoiler through the remainder of their league schedule.

And Sonoraville, besides playing Central, also has a chance to improve its standing next week when they will play Cedartown twice, with the first game Tuesday at Cedartown and the rematch on Thursday at The Furnace.

While the Lady Phoenix are still finding their way through their new and bigger Region, several players have put up some big numbers statistically through the first month

of the season.

Sophomore AnLeigh Shirley was one of the few players in the Region batting over .500, sporting an outstanding .571 batting average through her team’s first eight games. In 14 official at-bats, she had eight hits, including three doubles and a home run.

The Phoenix also had four others hitting over the .400 pace with sophomore Harley Brown at .476 while senior Kelly Green had a .464

batting average, sophomore Erin Garland was at .419 and sophomore Ashley Fountain was at .412

Brown had 10 hits in 21 ABs and one of those hits was a double.

Green had 13 hits in 28 atbats with more than half of those going for extra bases. Besides leading the team in homers with three, she also had three doubles and a triple to go with five walks.

Garland was 13-of-31 at

the plate and she paced the Phoenix in doubles with four. She had also reached base six times via the walk.

Fountain was over the .400 mark with seven hits in 19 plate appearances, including three walks. She has added power as well with two home runs and two doubles.

All of those girls also sported outstanding on-base percentages as well with Shirley having a .600 OBP. Tippett had a .516 on-base percentage

through her first 11 games and Green, Brown, and Fountain were right at .500. Garland was close behind them at .472.

The team also had its RBI production spread around with Garland, going into Thursday’s games, leading her team with eight runs driven in while Green and Lambert were right behind her with seven RBI each.

Fountain and Shirley have driven in six runs and Becca Tippett added five more.