Caldwell County’s girls built a 4-0 lead, then held on late for a 5-4 victory over Livingston Central Friday in 2nd Region All A Classic play in Smithland.
The Lady Tigers (7-4) advance to semifinal round action on Saturday against Crittenden County, which drew a first-round bye. That game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Livingston Central.
Eighth grader Jackie Farmer picked up the pitching win for Caldwell after being forced into action when starting hurler Illysa Stallins was hurt while batting in the top of the fourth inning.
Stallins went down with a knee injury while lining out to right field.
Farmer went the final four innings in the circle, allowing two earned runs on base hits. She walked three and struck out one.
Stallins allowed two earned runs on three hits and two walks over the first three innings.
The Lady Tiger defense played well behind its pitchers.
Caldwell never trailed after scoring three times in the top of the first inning.
However, Livingston (11-6-1) had the potential tying run on second in the sixth inning and put two on with two out in the seventh before a grounder to second ended the game.
Brylee Butts and Adley Lewis each had RBI doubles in the first inning for Caldwell.
Butts finished the day 3-for-4 with two runs batted in while A.J. Hollowell was 2-for-4.
For Livingston, Victoria Joiner was 3-for-3 with two doubles, a pair of RBIs and two runs scored. Emersyn Ramage and Nevaeh Grimm were each 2-for-4.
If the All A Classic semifinals are played on Saturday as scheduled — University Heights and Lyon County are slated to play in the opener at 11 a.m. — then the championship game is expected to be played Monday night in Smithland.
