Published: October 06, 2008 10:34 pm �� �� �� ��

NW one win from 4-A sectional

Loren Shook threw a four-hitter, Northwest Whitfield blew open a tight game with a seven-run fourth inning and the Lady Bruins breezed to a 10-1 victory Monday in the Region 7-4A softball tournament at Twin Creeks Park in Woodstock.

The Lady Bruins (18-12-1) advance to the semifinals where they will play Cass on Wednesday at 5 p.m. A victory against the Lady Colonels will nail down a berth in the Class 4A Sectionals.

In Region 6-3A play, Carrollton defeated Southeast, 2-0, to end the Lady Raiders’ season.

Cass took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Jessie King hit a solo home run off Northwest’s Loren Shook.

However, the Lady Bruins scored three runs in the third and broke the Lady Colonels’ back with the seven-run uprising an inning later.

“They changed pitchers in the third and she wasn’t throwing as hard as their starter,” Northwest coach Tammy Lambert said. “I knew once we adjusted to her I knew we were fixing to rally big time. Our girls were seeing the pitches well and they started just ripping the ball.”

Callie Thomas had a two-run triple and Taylor Staten added a two-run single in the Lady Bruins’ big fourth inning. Kayla Piorkowski also had a run-scoring hit in the ininning.

Paige Thompson and Katie Vaughn each added two singles to the Lady Bruins’ 10-hit attack.

Shook struck out seven in another impressive win.

“Loren did an outstanding job,” Lambert said. “She was hitting her locations well and got stronger as the game progressed. She was really throwing hard and kept their hitters off balance with a good changeup. She did an awesome job.”

� Carrollton 2, Southeast 0: Kinley Hallman’s complete game effort in which she struck out five, walked none, allowed just three hits and no earned runs was not enough as the Lady Raiders’ bats fell silent in a loss that ended their season.

In the first and fifth innings, Lady Trojans runners reached on errors and eventually scored. On the flip side, Southeast stranded six runners in scoring position, all with less than two outs.

But for a sophomore-heavy squad featuring no seniors, Southeast coach Craig Brock said this season was valuable from an experience and confidence-building standpoint.

“I was proud of the way our team played this season, especially toward the end of the season,” Brock said. “We talked about that on the way back about some of the mistakes we made and being so young, but they learned from this.

“The way the region tournament was set up, we felt we had a chance to win some games and we did. Carrollton reminds me a lot of us, they put the ball in play and play good defense. I think we were a little nervous but we’ll learn from this experience.”

The Lady Raiders finished at 15-14.

Freshman football

� LaFayette 36, Northwest Whitfield 22: Drew Allen threw two touchdown passes to Alex Heard covering 30 and 25 yards for the Bruins (2-2).

Colter Creswell hit Daniel Kubin on a 42-yard TD pass for Northwest’s other touchdown.

Hunter Martin and Justin Andrews each had conversion runs.

The Ramblers built a 16-0 lead in the first quarter before Allen and Heard hooked up on their first scoring pass play.

Down 22-14 at halftime, the Bruins fumbled the second-half kickoff and the Ramblers quickly scored to push their cushion to 30-14. After Northwest’s final score, the Bruins tried an onside kick but LaFayette recovered and scored on a 60-yard run on its first play.

� Dalton 22, LFO 8: Tre Bonds scored on an 86-yard run as the Catamounts rolled past Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.

Camden Moore scored from 63 yards out and Zach Reed had a 22-yard TD run for the Cats (2-2).

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