Lady Ramblers blank Dalton

The Gordon Lee Middle School Lady Trojans began their new softball season on a positive note this past Tuesday afternoon, fending off LaFayette’s Lady Ramblers, 2-0. Canaan Burnett outdueled Lindsey Shepherd in a classic pitchers’ battle. Burnett took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before finally giving up LaFayette’s only two hits of the game. Madison Collier accounted for one Gordon Lee run with a solo homerun. Karsan Gazaway was 2-for-3 with a double, while Burnett, Taelyn Bates, Faith Alexander, and Mary Kate Pritchett each had a single. Burnett moved to 2-0 on Thursday, but not before she and the Lady Trojans withstood a lastinning rally by Heritage in a home win. The Lady Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Burnett drove in a run with a single and Collier later ripped a single to score two more runs. They added their final run in the bottom of the fourth as Alexander plated a run on a fielder’s choice. The Lady Generals threatened in the top of the third, but Gazaway, the team’s catcher, helped her team escape trouble by throwing out two runners at second base. Heritage would load the bases in the fifth, but scored only once on an RBI-single by Reagan The LaFayette Lady Ramblers got production from all nine of its starters this past Thursday as they took down Dalton, 60, in the Region 7-AAAA opener in LaFayette. LaFayette (5-4, 1-0) plated two runs in the second inning and three in the third before tacking on an insurance run in the fifth. Kayla Godwin led the charge with a pair of doubles in three at-bats while driving in two runs. Savannah Reeves was 2-for-2 with a stolen base and three runs scored. Tori Hunter, Shelby Narmore, Cassey Phillips, Victoria Day, and Hannah O’Shields all had one RBI, while Jessica Ingram collected a hit. Jerrica Littlejohn scattered seven hits over seven inning to get the shutout and even her record at 2-2. The senior hit one batter and struck our four without walking a single hitter. “That might have been Jerrica’s best seven-inning pitching performance of the year,” head coach Glen Woodard said. “She’s really stepping up as a senior. Tonight was a great way to start region play with a win against a good team.” LaFayette was scheduled to travel to Walker County rival Ridgeland on Tuesday before hosting Armuchee on Wednesday and Northwest Whitfield on Thursday. First pitch of all three games is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Norfleet. Alexander made a great throw from deep in the hole at shortstop to Gazaway at home, forcing a runner for out two, then caught a shallow fly ball to end the inning. The Lady Generals would make things interesting in the top of the seventh, loading the bases again with just one out. Gordon Lee would get a force out at the plate, but a fielding error would plate two runs and put the tying run at third. But Burnett, who went the distance to get the win, would induce an infield pop-up to Alexander to end the game. Burnett allowing four hits and three walks with six strikeouts, while Maddie Morris took the loss for Heritage. 2-for-2 in the loss while Collier had a double. Burnett went 2-for-3 and fired a no-hitter in the circle, fanning 10 Dade County hitters, in an 8-0 win on Saturday morning. Katherine Grace McElhaney helped the cause by going 2-for-2 at the plate. But Gordon Lee would give up seven runs to Heritage in the final two innings Saturday afternoon before falling construction work himself, picking the brains of golf course workers and using the things he learned while serving as a marshal at the LaFayette Golf Course. “I don’t have any (professional) education in turf management, so a lot of it was trial and error,” he said. “I talked to a lot of greenskeepers and superintendents, all of whom were very nice people who didn’t mind sharing their knowledge. I just asked questions and tried to remember the answers. When I was a marshal at LaFayette, they were building the back nine (holes), so I watched and learned a lot from that. “I spent a lot of time burning brush and growing Bermuda grasses, testing them to see which were the strongest. But really in the last three years since I retired, to the Lady Generals, 7-3, in an elimination game. All four of Gordon Lee’s hits were doubles while Alexander, Bates, and Paxton Grimes drove in the runs for the Lady Trojans. Gordon Lee (3-3) is scheduled to host Trion at 5 p.m. on Tuesday before going on the road to GPS on Thursday (4:30) and Ringgold on Friday (5 p.m.). a lot of work has been done. We hired about 20 different people to help finish it, along with myself and Ryan.” Nowadays, Jones spends his days mowing grass, running the dayto-day operations of the course, and finding time to have putting contests with his grandsons, Bentley and Luke Cannington, on the homemade course that was a 20-year dream in the making. “Sometimes they even let me win,” he adds with a chuckle. The course offers single player and family memberships along with daily discounts for senior and junior players. Along with junior clinics on Thursdays, a Skins tournament is held all day each Friday, and the course will host a twoman select shot tournament on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m.