Caldwell County’s girls will play in the regional semifinals for the second straight year after surviving a wild extra-inning game with Christian County on Saturday.
The Lady Tigers scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 10-10, then took the lead on a bases-loaded walk by Harper Holeman in the eighth inning to edge the Lady Colonels 11-10.
Caldwell (17-12) will next face Crittenden County (14-15) in the semifinals on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Hopkins County Central. The Lady Rockets defeated Union County in their opening round matchup on Saturday.
Saturday’s action was moved to Christian County due to wet field conditions in Mortons Gap.
Caldwell wasted little time jumping on Christian County for seven runs in the top of the first inning.
Alicia Stanley had a two-run home run while Alexis Wood delivered a three-run shot to center as part of Caldwell’s big inning.
But Christian (19-13) got right back in the game with five runs in the bottom of the first.
Karlee Crick hit a two-run homer to right and Kaleigh Shaw had a solo blast to center to help Christian trim the margin to 7-5.
The Lady Colonels tied things in the bottom of the fourth. Crick singled home a run. Jayda Turner tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it a 7-7 contest.
Christian then took the lead for the first time in the fifth inning. Crick’s three-run homer to left-center with two outs gave the Lady Colonels a 10-7 advantage.
Caldwell drew even in the top of the seventh. A.J. Hollowell doubled home a run to make it 10-8. Holeman followed with a two-run single that knotted the game at 10-10.
Christian threatened to win it in the bottom of the seventh when Jada Miller singled and Saniya Shields reached on a bunt single to start the inning. But a force out at third was the first out, then a pop-out was turned into a double play, sending the game to the eighth inning.
Caldwell put together a two-out rally in the eighth to regain the lead. Alexis Wood was hit by a pitch. Laney Jones then singled into right and Hollowell was hit by a pitch to lead the bases.Holeman forced in the go-ahead run when she walked on a 3-2 pitch that was high, pushing the Lady Tigers in front 11-10.
Christian got a two-out baserunner in the bottom of the eighth when Jayda Turner singled to eight. But Wood struck out the next batter to end the game and sent the Lady Tigers on to the semifinal round. It was Wood’s only strikeout of the contest.
Adley Lewis was 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in for Caldwell. Holeman and Stanley were each 2-for-5. Holeman drove in three and Stanley had two RBIs.
Hollowell finished 2-for-4 and scored twice. Jones was 2-for-5 for the Lady Tigers.
Karlee Crick led Christian, going 3-for-6 with two home runs and six runs batted in. Jada Miller finished 3-for-3 and drove in a run. Turner was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Shaw was 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI and Haley Petterson went 2-for 5.
Wood (14-9) picked up the win in the pitching circle. She allowed seven earned runs on 14 base hits in eight innings.
Jordan Turner (13-7) suffered the loss for Christian, allowing eight earned runs on 12 hits in 7.1 innings. She struck out 11 but walked five.
