Heritage gets big win over NW Whitfield to earn no. 1 seed

The Heritage softball team picked up a pair of wins last week to secure the No. 1 seed, heading into the upcoming Region 4A tournament.

The Generals, led by head coach Steve Chattin, shutout Dalton, 12-0 on Senior Night, before handing Northwest Whitfield a 6-3 loss in the battle of the top two ranked teams in the region.

Heritage head coach Steve Chattin said it was a good week, following their loss against LaFayette. The Navyand-Red will possibly face the Ramblers in a rematch during the first round of the region tournament.

"The game against Northwest in particular was big," he said. "They're one of the teams you have to beat to play at the state level. They jumped out on us, but the girls responded and kept battling...Lawson also threw very well the last six innings."

The pair of wins last week improved Heritage's record to 22-5 overall and 9-1 in the region, heading into Tuesday's matchup with rival Ringgold. The Generals lost to the Tigers in their previous meeting in the LFO Invitational.

Chattin said he's looking forward to what he knows will be a typical diamond dual.

"The game against Ringgold is more about personal pride than anything else, with them not being in the region," he said. "It's always a rival game. Coach hodge and I actually had it scheduled earlier in the year. When the GHSA moved the region tournament up a week, we made this the last game of the season so we could both play a good quality team."

Against Northwest Whitfield, the Generals spotted the Bruins three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

From there it was all Heritage.

Lauren Lawson (18-2) allowed only one earned run in the win. She also had two hits, a walk, a run scored and an RBI.

Other standouts for Heritage included Shelby Hammontree with two hits; Olivia Tamewitz, two hits and a run scored Krissi Prewitt, a hit, walk and two RBIs;

Katie Pritchett, a hit and an RBI.

Tamewitz also made an outstanding defensive play to keep the game close in the bottom of the second inning.

Others with hits were Hannah Wills and Sydney Smith.

On Tuesday against Dalton, Pritchett had a superb performance as the team's only 2014 graduate on Senior Night. She went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Lawson threw a twohitter to improve to 17-2. She had two hits including a double, three RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

Other highlights included Tamewitz with three hits, three runs scored and one stolen base; Shelby Hammontree, two hits including a double with three RBIs; Wills, a double with an RBI; Ali Roberts, a single, walk and an RBI; Brooklynn Frazier, a double and a walk; Morgan Parris, three runs scored.