COME BACK TOUGH
Lady Jackets top rival Lady Bulldogs to claim county crown
One good hit sent the Cedartown softball team into the lead against its cross-county rivals last week, but a few more quality at-bats by their opponent made the difference.
Playing what would turn out to be the lone Cedartown-Rockmart contest of the week, the Lady Bulldogs traveled Highway 278 to take on the Lady Jackets on Monday, Aug. 23,
While Cedartown’s Marycille Brumby smashed a three-run bomb to straight center field to put her team up 3-2 in the fifth inning, the home team added seven runs in the next two innings to take a 9-3 victory.
Both teams entered the season with new head coaches, with Rockmart now led by former Rockmart Middle School coach Lindsey Campbell and Cedartown by former Alexander head coach Jaime Monroe.
Campbell said she was happy with how her team responded following Brumby’s home run.
“I told them that we had to come back tough and get up and keep going. Because we tend to shut down sometimes after something like that, but they didn’t today and they did
a great job of coming back tough,” she said.
Gracey Arnold led the Lady Jackets at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Sam Wolfe also had three RBIs as she had a sacrifice bunt in the third and a two run double as part of Rockmart’s fiverun sixth.
“(Gracey) is in that three hole, and that’s a crucial spot for her because we get somebody on and she can for sure move them around. And we have
Sam in the two hole and she’s putting down sacs and squeezes. So those two are really filling out their roles really, really well,” Campbell said.
Sophomore pitcher Emma Scott threw a complete game for the Lady Jackets, striking out five while scattering five hits. She also made a mark at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Brumby finished 2-for-3 for
Cedartown with a single and a walk to go with her home run. The senior infielder had the Lady Bulldogs’ lone extra base hit in the game. Hayvin Barclay drew two walks and scored a run.
“We’ve got to be stronger mentally. We’ve got to go out and do the little things right,” Monroe said. “We’re not very mentally tough right now, but we’re getting there. We’re working on it and we’re gonna get better.”
The Lady Bulldogs began region play following the contest with Rockmart last week with a three-game series against Central-Carroll.
“We have region play starting and we’re gonna turn around, turn the page and forget what just happened,” Monroe said. “But this team’s got some fight. That’s the good thing about them. They’ve got some fight and they’re
scrappy and they’ve got a little attitude to them and I kind of like it.”
While they were swept by Central, they got a 15-3 win over Mt. Zion-Carroll on Saturday.
Rockmart, meanwhile, remained unbeaten in Region 6-3A play after defeating Adairsville and Coahulla Creek last week.
“Our saying this year is ‘all in,’ and we’re really working
on being all in for each other and all in for this softball program,” Campbell said. “They’re doing a really good job of defining that so far so I’m excited to see where it goes.”