Katie Rutledge of CHS softball (Photo by John St. Clair, stclair-sports.com)
Hosting your own softball tournament in the closing days of the high school regular season presents lots of challenges for Coffee County’s Steve Wilder. Not to diminish the logistics of making sure fields are ready, teams are scheduled, workers are present; Wilder has the task of balancing the chore of winning versus making sure is team is healthy and rested for the final 3 regular season district games coming up this next week. With that in mind on Friday, Coffee County fans saw varied lineups in the Lady Raiders 2 losses on Friday night. Coffee opened the day with a 5 to 3 loss to Forrest before closing out the night with a 9 to 8 defeat at the hands of Covington.
Against Forrest, a 1st inning run and a 3 RBI performance from Haley Hinshaw were not enough to overcome a 7 hit attack from the Lady Rockets. Batting first in the tournament format, Coffee County drew first blood when Hinshaw drove in Raven Rogers in the 1st inning. Forrest responded with a pair of first inning runs themselves and they never trailed again. Hinshaw finished with 2 hits and the 3 RBI to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game. Katie Rutledge also finished with 2 singles and Tori Bell had a double.
In the night cap against Covington, the Lady Raiders were shut down in their final 2 at bats in the 9 to 8 loss. In a back and forth game, Covington scored in the top of each inning in the win. The Lady Raiders were able to tie the game in bottom of the 1st and 2nd innings, before taking an 8 to 6 lead after 3 innings. But a pair of 2 out rallies in the 4th and 5th innings by Covington was the back breaker. Katie Rutledge led the Lady Raiders in hitting as she was 3 for 4 including an inside the park home run
Coffee County concludes play in the Coffee County Classic on Saturday with a pair of games. The Lady Raiders will play Waverly at 11 AM and Warren County at 3 PM. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of each game.
Download the broadcast at www.WMSRradio.com/downloads
