Lady Wolverines Come Up Short in State Title Chase
By EDDY GIFFORD
Sports Writer
The Dade County High School Lady Wolverine softball team traveled to Columbus last week to the State Tournament. The eight Super Regional winners in each classification were there to battle for the state championship in each classification.
The Lady Wolverines opened play on Wednesday, Oct. 25 against Heard County, and the game was a real pitcher’s dual.
The first four innings were scoreless with the Lady Wolverines having a base runner in each inning but were unable to push a run across.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Heard County got back-to-back doubles to score and take the lead 1-0.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Lady Wolverines got back-to-back singles from Rylee Byram and Lilah Wilson with one out, but a double play ended the threat and the score remained 1-0.
That would be the only real threat for the Lady Wolverines, and they dropped a hard-fought game 1-0.
Kayleigh Warnock pitched an outstanding game, giving up just one run on five hits while striking out seven.
Falyn Baggett and Rylee Byram led the Lady Wolverines with two hits each while Adilyn Gross and Lilah Wilson also had hits in the game.
The Lady Wolverines second game was on Thursday, when they faced Metter High School.
In the first inning, the Lady Wolverines loaded the bases but was unable to push a run across and Metter failed to score after getting a runner on as well.
In the second inning, Dade picked up a pair of runs to take the lead, 2-0. They came back in the third with two more runs and took a 4-0 lead.
Adding a run in the fourth to make it 5-0, the Lady Wolverines did not score again until the top of the seventh when they pushed three runs across for an 8-0 lead.
Warnock dominated the Metter hitters, giving up just four hits over seven innings while striking out 10, throwing just 71 pitches in the game.
Riley Talley had a pair of hits for the Lady Wolverines while Lexi Lawson had one hit and two RBI’s. KK Castleberry, Warnock, Madi Page, Byram, and Wilson also had hits in the game.
The 8-0 win advanced the Lady Wolverines to the next game against Bacon County on Friday.
The Lady Wolverines trailed 3-0 heading into the sixth inning but scored four big runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead heading into the seventh inning.
With two outs and no one on base, a Dade County error opened the door for Bacon County, and they took advantage when the next batter hit a home run to put them back on top 5-4.
The Lady Wolverines had one last chance but could not score and fell 5-4 as their season came to an end.
The box score was unavailable for the game, but it was a heart-breaking loss to end a great season.
Congratulations Lady Wolverines on a very successful season!