Lady Panthers Roll Cumberland County, Advance In District Tournament

Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis

The Stone Memorial Lady Panthers ended the season of cross-town rival Cumberland County on Monday with their 18-3 win.

The Lady Jets jumped on the board first with two runs in the opening frame, but the Lady Panthers answered back right away with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

After the two teams traded scoreless innings in the second, Stone stretched out the lead with five runs in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 8-2.

CCHS got one of the runs back in the fourth, but the Lady Panthers put the game out of reach with a 10-run explosion in the bottom of the frame. After starter Kara VonAchen set down the side in the fifth, Stone officially hit the run-rule to end the game and CCHS’ season 18-3 in the district tournament.

“I just think we had a lot of confidence in our bats today,” said SMHS head coach Chasity Bohannon. “Our pitcher was really confident, and we had a good warm-up game against DeKalb earlier. So I felt like that got us off to a good start.”

VonAchen finished with five innings of three-run ball (two earned) with four strikeouts and six walks, a performance her coach attributed to her playing with confidence.

“I liked that she’s confident in her change-up,” Bohannon said. “We’re able to mix up speeds, and that throws a lot of batters off.”

Bohannon says that her team knows what their record currently is and what their current situation is in the district tournament. She says she hopes that this game pushes her girls to want to shock some people before the season concludes.

“I think just the desire to keep going is what I want to see,” Bohannon said. “Nobody thinks we can do anything, so to get something a little bit extra would be nice.”

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