WCHS softball continues win streak, beats Cookeville

After having defeated Warren County, Cumberland County, Upperman, Van Buren, DeKalb, and Macon counties, the White County High School softball team added another tally in the win column, on March 28, when they defeated the Cookeville Lady Cavs 1 to 0.

The lone run came in the first inning when Caydra Parker scored on an infield ground ball by Ashlynn Phillips. Parker had singled to start the Warriorettes half of the first frame and promptly stole second and then, three pitches later, stole third as well. Parkers’ speed and awareness on the bases put her in position to score when Phillips hit a one-out ground ball to the second baseman who chose to go for the out at first rather than hold Parker. Abell would follow up with a single of her own but would be stranded at first when catcher Abby Finan hit a fly ball the Cookeville left fielder was able to catch for the third out.

The Warriorettes threatened to score again in the bottom of the second inning when Burchett singled to left field and then Abby Guy hit a hard line drive double to center to put both girls in scoring position. With one out already and a strikeout by Lordis Northern, the Cookeville team decided to intentionally walk Parker to load the bases with two outs. However, the inning ended when the next batter, Taylor Roberts, struck out.

The Lady Cavs threatened to erase White County’s lead in the top of the fourth when Abell walked the second batter, L. Turner, with one out. The next batter, K. Kleppin, hit a groundball to Parker but reached base on an error by the Warriorettes’ shortstop. While Turner advanced to third during the play, that was as far as she would reach as Abell struck out the next two batters to end the inning and the Cookeville scoring threat.

Abell pitched the complete game, striking out 13 while walking two and giving up two hits. The Warriorettes had four hits on the evening (Parker, Abell, Guy, and Maddy Rust), two walks (Parker and Phillips), two stolen bases (both by Parker in the first inning), and committed two errors (Parker, Abell).