Kaylee Skipper
Trailing 1 to 0 entering the bottom of the 4th inning, the Lady Raiders mounted a 2 out rally to tie the game before beating Franklin County on Tuesday night 3 to 1 in the elimination bracket of the District 8AAA softball tournament in Winchester.
Cleaning up the defense after Monday night’s upset; the Lady Raiders did give up an unearned run on their lone error of the game. Offensively, Coffee County scored the tying run on a Lauren Tomberlin double in the 4th with 2 outs and scored their final 2 runs on a 2 strike single from Tori Bell.
Kaylee Skipper scattered 4 hits from the pitching circle to get the win for Coffee County and advance the Lady Raiders to Wednesday night’’s quarterfinal matchup with Lincoln County. “Kaylee pitched really well tonight as she mixed in her dropball and riseball to keep Franklin County off balance” said Lady Raider head coach Steve Wilder. “Defensively, we made the plays today and when Kaylee has the lead going into the 7th inning, she will close it out” added Wilder after the game.
Tori Bell’s 2 RBI single in the 5th plated her team-leading 20th and 21st RBI for the season and could not have come at a better time for the Lady Raiders. “We had to have her right then and she came through for us with 2 strikes” said Wilder. Haley Hinshaw was 2 for 3 at the plate with a pair of singles and a run scored while Abby Woods twice reached base on an error. For her dominant pitching performance, Skipper earned the Ascend Federal Credit Union player of the game award.
Coffee County will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon when they take on Lincoln County in an elimination game at Franklin County High School. The winner will move on the Thursday’s semifinals with a chance to earn a region berth while the loser’s season is over. Thunder Radio will once again bring you all the action as Lucky Knott will bring you the pregame show at 4:50 with first pitch scheduled for 5 PM.
You can download a copy of Tuesday’s broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/
