Katie Rutledge of CHS Softball (Photo by John St. Clair, stclair-sports.com)
The Coffee County Central High School softball team opened play in the Gulf Shores Tournament on Monday with a pair of games. Coffee County dropped the tournament opener to Thompson, Alabama 10 to 1. In the nightcap, the Lady Raiders saw Clarksville score the game winning run in the bottom of the last inning to beat Coffee County 4 to 3.
Against Thompson, 4 Lady Raider errors saw the Alabama squad score 7 unearned runs in a 10 to 1 defeat of Coffee County. After building a 5 to 0 lead after 2 innings, Thompson sent 9 batters to the plate in the 4th inning as they tacked on another 5 runs. Coffee County got their lone run in the 5th inning. The Lady Raiders were held to 4 hits in the defeat. Katie Rutledge finished 2 for 3 with a pair of singles. Tori Bell had a single and an RBI.
Against Clarksville, Coffee County saw the Lady Wildcats score the winning run on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 5th inning to grab a 4 to 3 win. Clarksville scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the 4th to grab a 3 to 1 lead before Coffee County rallied for 2 runs in the top of the 5th inning to tie the game at 3. That set up the game winning walk-off sacrifice fly. The Lady Raiders finished with 3 hits. Katie Rutledge, Raven Rogers and Tori Bell each had a single.
Coffee County returns to tournament action bright and early on Tuesday morning. The Lady Raiders open up against Oneonta, AL at 8 AM. Coffee County will take on Alexandra, AL at 11. The tournament’s single elimination championship begins on Wednesday.
