Even successful ‘cat-and-mouse’ strategy wasn’t enough for Perry High softball Tuesday. West Laurens High won the No. 1 position in Region 2-AAAA, scoring three unanswered runs from the fifth inning to the conclusion of the 5-2 victory for the Raiders.
Perry and West Laurens were in a three-way tie for first place with Veterans High, all 5-1, before Tuesday’ games began. Veterans crushed Baldwin High 17-1 at home to conclude its 2-AAAA schedule and needed a Perry win in order to take the No. 1 seed. West Laurens, earlier in the season, handed the Warhawks their only region loss, but Veterans had a win against the Panthers.
Raiders pitcher Whitney Oliver drove in three runs. Leadoff batter Logan Calhoun, who had three hits, scored all three times.
The visitors went to work right away, Calhoun putting down a bunt down the third base line that turned into a first-inning single. Perry pitcher Sabrina Doucette issued a walk, and Oliver singled creating a lot of action at home plate. Calhoun scored on the play, but the Panther defense also recorded the first out at home.
Doucette pitched out of further damage, and she singled to lead off Perry’s half of the first. She stole second base, but Oliver left her there and went into the second still up 1-0.
West Laurens tacked on a second run in the third inning thanks to an error, but again Doucette escaped the inning with two more Raiders in scoring position.
Coach Lorne Tucker had a somewhat makeshift lineup on the field Tuesday as injuries affected two Panthers, Kaley Sikes and Marie Smith. With one out in the home third, Sammi Smith, playing a lot of first base in Sikes’ absence, singled to bring Doucette to the plate.
Doucette produced her second straight hit, and Sammy Gidney sacrificed what would be the tying runs to second and third. Here is where the ‘cat-and-mouse’ tactics worked for the home team.
Mattie Hamilton, playing catcher on defense, squibbed the softball down the first-base line. West Laurens dropped it, not getting an out on Hamilton but also allowing Smith to score.
Tucker kept his eye on who had the softball with Doucette standing by him at third base. The ball was still live, but sensing no urgency on the Raiders’ part, the coach sent Doucette home. She slid in safely to knot things up 2-2.
But from there Perry had just two hits, a Harley Padgett single in the fourth inning and one by starting second baseman Skylar Mizell in the sixth. Gidney also reached base via a throwing error in the fifth, but Hamilton’s line drive went into the first baseman’s glove for a double play.
Calhoun was the leadoff hitter for West Laurens’ fifth inning and repeated her first-inning feat with a bunt single. She scored on Lauren Childers’ triple to the left-field corner. Oliver’s deep sacrifice fly to center plated Childers for a 4-2 Raider lead.
In the seventh, Calhoun found herself again first to bat and put down her third bunt. A throwing error gave her two extra bases, and Oliver delivered another deep sacrifice fly for 5-2.
Doucette, for her outing, had six strikeouts while Oliver had five.
• On Wednesday, Lee County scored two times in the bottom of the eighth inning to send Perry home on the wrong side of an 8-7 final.
The Panthers were down 4-0 early but scored five times in the third inning. The Trojans forged a tie in their half, and it was 6-6 after seven complete.
Perry pitcher Melissa Eckman doubled for an RBI while Mattie Hamilton batted home two runs. Both McKenzie Anderson and Skylar Mizell hit a double and single.
HHJ News
