Stories from Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Cornersville defied the odds by knocking off Mt. Pleasant to gain a trip to the Region 6-A Tournament for the first time since the 2011, but a loss in the district championship to Columbia Academy gave the Lady Dawgs the daunting task of traveling to Lawrence County to take on perennial power Summertown for a chance to appear in the sectionals.

With its season on the line for the third game in a row, the Marshall County Tigerettes made the 33 mile drive to Wartrace on Thursday to take on the Lady Champions of Cascade with the winner taking on Page for the District 12-AA crown. Two outstanding freshman pitchers in Brooklin Conger (Marshall County) and Brooke Sudduth (Cascade) would go head-to-head with Conger and the Tigerettes coming up just one run short as they headed home to Lewisburg one game short of a region tournament berth with the 3-2 loss.

The defending Class-A state champion Forrest Lady Rockets took care of business in a solid manner Monday night at the Field of Dreams in Chapel Hill, beating Nashville Christian School 7-1 in the opening round of the Region 5-A Tournament. "I was very pleased with our effort," Forrest coach Becky Cheatham said. "I thought we did a good job when we caught up with our hitting and we played error free."

After cruising undefeated thru regular season district play, the Forrest Rockets received a wake-up call via a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Eagleville on Wednesday in the first of two championship tilts. Rain forced the postponement of the final clash from Thursday to Friday night and Eagleville picked up right where they left off, jumping to a 2-0 lead before Forrest answered the call, pounding out 15 hits off three Eagleville hurlers en route to a huge 10-4 win, marking back-to-back District 9-A Tournament titles for the Rockets.

The Forrest Rockets are a determined squad and they showed their resiliency once again on a rainy Monday night at Chapel Hill, blasting District 10-A runner-up East Robertson 11-1 in five innings for an opening round Region 5-A Tournament win. "It's a great feeling, you have to give all the credit to the boys, they came out tonight focused," Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. "They got down, came back, held their composure and capitalized on big hits at crucial times with two outs, so it was a great job at the plate with two-out hitting."