by Rusty Ellis
White County took an early lead and held on thanks to an excellent outing in the circle from Savannah Barr to defeat district foe Stone Memorial 4-2 on Thursday.
After a scoreless top of the first, White County broke a scoreless tie on a Taylor Roberts RBI double, but Stone Memorial limited the damage from there.
Sparta wouldn’t strike again until the bottom of the third inning, as RBIs from Ryleigh Burchett and Abby Guy pushed the lead to 3-0. Just when the Lady Panthers looked out of it, they clawed their way back in with two runs in the top of the fifth. Ashley Whittenburg got the scoring started for Stone with an RBI double and Kara VonAchen added an RBI single to cut the deficit down to just 3-2.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, as Maddie Rust gave the Warriorettes some insurance with an RBI double to push the lead to 4-2, which was more than enough for Sparta starter Savannah Barr on Thursday night.
She pitched a scoreless top of the seventh to clinch the win for White County, as she finished off a complete-game effort that saw her give up just the two runs and strike out nine.
Haley Dalton took the tough loss for Stone, as she struck out 10 in her six innings of work.
It may not have been the prettiest win in the eyes of head coach Jerry Roberts, but it’s a win he’ll take nonetheless.
“It’s been a struggle all year, but Savannah was good tonight,” Roberts said. “We hit the ball well, and hats off to Stone, they are much-improved. They’ve got a good squad over there, and they made us work for this win.”
Barr’s taken on a bigger role due to injuries early in the season, and the biggest key to her success on Thursday was her ability to get ahead in the count.
“She worked ahead, pretty much all night,” Roberts said. “Instead of getting into 2-1, 3-1 counts, she worked ahead of hitters consistently.”
It’s Sparta’s third win of the season, and Roberts hopes that this is the one that gets his team rolling on a winning streak.
“We just build on anything positive,” Roberts said. “We won 4-2, so we’ll build on all the things we did, positively. We need to just keep working to get better.”
Up next for White County is rival Cookeville on Monday, while Stone will turn their attention to Cumberland County on Tuesday.
