White County Survives Against Upperman

Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis

The White County Warriorettes jumped all over Upperman early and held off a late Lady Bee rally to earn. 7-5 victory on Monday night.

After Addison Abell set down the side in order to open the game, White County struck for three runs in the bottom of the first against Lady Bee starter Leah McElhaney. Taylor Roberts and Abell each drove in runs with their first hits of the game, and the third run scored on a ball in the dirt.

Upperman didn’t waste any time answered back, as Izzy Veigel hit a two-run single to cut the deficit down to a single run in the second inning. Abell responded by driving in two more runs with a single in the bottom of the frame however, pushing the lead back to 5-2.

The two teams would go scoreless until the top of the fourth, when a Mel Pride bunt drove in a run to cut the deficit down to 5-3. Once again however, the Warriorettes would respond in the bottom half on the strength of a Roberts RBI double to push the lead back to three runs.

White County scored their final run of the game on an error that occurred after Abby Guy singled into centerfield, pushing the lead to 7-3.

The Lady Bees wouldn’t go down without a fight, as Abigail Johnson blasted a two-run home run in the sixth to cut the lead back down to two, but Abell closed the door from there and sealed the 7-5 win for White County.

“I tip my hat to Dustin and what his team does,” said WCHS head coach Jerry Roberts. “Addy probably had 10 to 12 strikeouts in both of our regular season meetings and they cut down on that today…they came to play tonight. We did some things out of character for us, but we did a lot of things well. We had 12 hits and we pounded it really well.”

Roberts also emphasized to his team that at this point in the year, all that matters is the win, no matter how it comes.

“Every time we had a chance to score, I feel like we did,” Roberts said. “Again, hats off to them. Every time we had a chance to put them away, they came right back…we did really good and fought back, that’s good.”

White County now has a chance to clinch a region game with a win over Macon County on Tuesday, something that Roberts knows is a big deal. What he says he wants his team to continue is their measured aggression at the plate.

“Hitting, we need to keep our bats hot,” Roberts said. “With Addy or Ashlynn (Phillips) pitching, we’re going to win a lot of ball games with 12 hits and seven runs.”

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