By Michael Lindsay
District 7/AAA tournament softball is underway as the White County Warriorettes survived a late push from Livingston Academy en route to a 10-8 road victory.
White County held a 9-2 lead after 4 innings before Livingston outscored the Warriorettes 6-1 over the final 3 frames to nearly pull off the comeback.
The Warriorettes out-hit Livingston 9-7 as shortstop Kylie Norvell led White County with 3 hits, 4 runs scored, an RBI and a double.
Savannah Barr picked up the win in the circle as she gave up 7 hits in 7 innings pitched while striking out 10.
Livingston third baseman Bailey Hutchinson went 3-3 with 4 RBIs, 4 runs scored, a home run and a double.
White County opened the game with a Ryleigh Burchett double to score Norvell and back-t0-back sacrifice flys to score Burchett and Taylor Roberts, giving Sparta a 3-0 advantage.
A Hutchinson solo homer to left in the bottom of the first cut White County’s lead to 3-1.
White County posted 3 runs in the tops of the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 9-1 lead over Livingston. Following a Sparta run via error, singles from Abigayle Finan and Maddie Rust scored runs in the third before hits by Norvell and Roberts drove in runs in the fourth.
An Emma Dulworth single in the bottom of the fourth scored Hutchinson to make the score 9-2 entering the 5th.
Livingston’s rally wasn’t done in the fourth as the Lady Wildcats scored 4 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the fifth to cut Sparta’s lead to 9-6. A Kendall Simpson single drove in Jozie Allen and Jaycee Collins followed by Hutchinson stealing home and a Calla Pierce double to score Brooklyn Loftis.
A Roberts single to score Norvell in the top of the sixth tacked on an insurance run for White County as they led 10-6 going into the seventh inning.
Livingston Academy rallied in the bottom of the seventh as a 1-out Simpson fly ball to left field scored Collins and Hutchinson to make the score 10-8. Two Sparta errors allowed Livingston Academy to load the bases with 2 outs before Barr forced a ground-out for the game’s final out to seal White County’s 10-8 victory.
The Warriorettes are scheduled to face District 7/AAA #1 seed Macon County on Monday, May 8 in Lafayette. Livingston Academy falls to the loser’s bracket and is slated to face the loser of DeKalb County vs. Stone Upperman on Tuesday, weather permitting.
