Prestonsburg, Ky. — In the semifinals of the Class 2A Section 8 tournament Johnson Central ousted defending champion Lawrence Co. 6-5 Thursday at Stonecrest.
Jada Patton is greeted by her teammates after hitting a three run homer against Johnson Central.
Jada Patton had two hits including a three run homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dawgs a 3-0 lead. Emalynn Kitts singled and scored a run, Millie Sammons had an RBI single in the sixth inning, Bree Jones, Ella Smith and Abby Maynard all singled, Addalyn Woods and Lexi Crum scored a run each.
Taylor Blevins suffered the loss in the circle, she went all seven innings, allowed eight hits, four earned runs, four strikeouts and walked three.
#4 Bree Jones hands the ball back to #3 Taylor Blevins after making a diving catch on a bunt in the first inning.
The Dawgs ( 8-2 ) will play in the Tri-State Showcase this Friday against host Ashland at 6:00 and twice on Saturday vs Hurricane ( W.Va ) at Noon and against Louisville Male at 2:00 both games at Ashland.
Addalyn Woods throws the ball back to the infield after making a nice catch in center field.
Bulldog Head Coach Sam Sparks
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… This was another learning situation for us. We sure didn’t want to lose tonight but the games in May are the ones that really matter. We will learn from this and get better.”
“…That was our fault on the play at the plate. You can’t make the last out at home. We took the bat out of Jada’s hands there. We have to put the ball in play better, we are hitting way too many pop ups right now. We had some awful at bats early on from the middle of our order. We are not barreling enough balls right now.”
“… We are going into the toughest five game stretch in Lawrence County history. We play Ashland Friday and two number one teams in there respective state in Hurricane and Louisville Male on Saturday. Monday we play Greenup Co. and Wednesday at Rowan County. We are going to get challenged and that is what we won’t.”
