Published: May 07, 2008 03:04 pm            

Lady Cougars one win away

DECATUR — Just one more win. That’s the predicament the Newton County Lady Cougars faced going into Tuesday’s Game 2 of the Class 3A fastpitch state championship series. The Lady Cougars held a 1-0 series advantage and would have to lose twice on their own field to not come away with a fifth state title after beating the Lady Tigers 9-3 Saturday at Nettleton.

“It was big winning Game 1 because in a championship series, I don’t know if either team can win two games in a row,” Newton County head coach Justin Chaney said. “I’m not saying Nettleton can’t, but it’s always nice to come back to your field knowing that all you have to do is win one game.

“We took advantage of some of their errors and I don’t think it will be that easy the rest of the series. We’ll have to bear down and do a much better job in some areas.”

The Lady Cougars improved to 23-8 this year and are 27-7 in playoff games over the past four years. That experience under pressure showed Saturday.

“I don’t know if Nettleton had been there before and you could just tell,” Chaney said. “We had some butterflies in our stomach, but when the game started we just settled in. I always tell them to act like you’ve been there before and we took on that demeanor. I was real pleased with that.”



Newton County 9,

Nettleton 3

It was a case of the experienced veteran in Newton County and the new kids on the block in Nettleton in Saturday’s series opener.

Making their fifth state tournament championship series in the last seven years, the Lady Cougars hammered 10 hits, got solid pitching, and played errorless defense.

Playing in its first state championship series in school history, Nettleton committed six errors and issued five bases on balls.

Brittney Cochran and Chelsea Pugh both had two hits for the Lady Cougars.

Kasie Buckley (20-4) tossed an eight-hit complete game with nine strikeouts and three walks.

Buckley blanked Nettleton over the first five innings as the Lady Cougars pulled out to a 7-0 lead.

Newton County scored five runs in the top of the third inning. Summer Alexander singled and Emily Davis walked prior to a two-run single by Cochran.

Then Nettleton’s defense enabled the Lady Cougars to tack on three more runs. An error by Lady Tiger first baseman Haydden Payne allowed Nikki Cumberland to reach base. Right fielder Kimmy Nicholson dropped Chelsea Pugh’s fly ball as two runs came home. A third crossed the plate on Nicholson’s throwing error on the play as Newton County went up 5-0.

The Lady Cougars added another run in the fifth as Pugh had a two-out single and took second on an outfield error. The run scored on a passed ball.

“They’re easy plays we’re supposed to make,” Nettleton coach Chris Kidd said of the errors. “I know in that one inning those five runs would not have scored. We might have had a little nerves under us there.”

Newton County upped its lead to 7-0 in the top of the sixth as Lacey Gilmore and Davis walked and Buckley followed with a two-out RBI single.

In the seventh, Cumberland and Pugh singled with an error on Samantha Cooley’s grounder plating a run. A steal of home extended the lead to 9-1.

Cochran had a double in addition to her single. Newton County also got a single each from Cooley, Davis, and Catherine Brand.

Nicholson had a single, an RBI double, and a triple to lead Nettleton’s offense. Payne had a pair of singles.

Michele Hester (17-2) took the loss, yielding 10 hits to eight different batters.

        

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