Carroll County ruffled some feathers in the first inning, getting a two-out, two-run homerun in the top of the first.
However, everything that happened after that was all Louisa County. The Lions didn’t sweat the blast to start the game, they answered. After reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the first, Louisa was patient at the plate, and incredibly opportunistic as it rolled off 10 unanswered runs to cruise to a 10-2 win in the Region 4A North quarterfinals and move one away from getting to the Division 4A state tournament.
“We were able to come in in the bottom half of (the first) and give a response and that was really important for us,” said Lions coach Daniel Barrett. “It sort of gave them a little heads up that we were ready to play tonight.”
Down 2-0 heading into its first at bat, Louisa’s pitcher sparked the offensive burst when Katie Harlow unleashed the first of her three doubles of the night, this one scoring Lindsay Talley who led the inning off with a single. Abbey Hudson tied the game at 2-2 by reaching base on an error and driving in Chrissy Cromer who reached base before Harlow’s double on a walk. Then Taylor Robinson drove in Harlow on an RBI groundout.
“The homerun (they had) it was a pitch that hung on the plate, so you expect that,” Harlow said. “But you’ve just got to keep your head up. If you don’t, you’re going to let the seniors down, your teammates down. Getting the (RBI double) that’s exciting. It’s amazing to be able to do that.”
Harlow was crafty in the circle from that point forward and got some help from her defense when she needed, which wasn’t until mid-late innings. Outside of that, this game was all about Louisa and it’s plethora of baserunners as the Lions were held to just one 1-2-3 inning that came in the third.
“We only had one inning were we didn’t have anyone on, so moving forward I think we just need to get that one big hit,” Barrett said.
In the second, a walk to Sam Madison and then to Talley proved costly as Cromer delivered and RBI sacrifice fly and Harlow cranked a second straight RBI double to make it 5-2. The Lions patience at the plate paid dividends all game.
“Their pitchers, for the most part, had trouble finding the strike zone,” Barrett said. “If the pitch is in the zone, we want to be aggressive, but if it’s not we want to hold off. We want to hit good pitches, that’s what we teach. It might have seemed that we were patient.”
In the fifth the Lions squandered a bases loaded situation, but blew the doors off the game in the sixth with a pair of walks, a single from Talley, a third double from Harlow, a hit batter, and RBI single from Hudson and then three wild pitches and an error that put the game at 10-2.
“We were just trying to get as many runs as we could until our coach told us to stop,” Harlow said.
Carroll’s lone chance at mounting a comeback came in the fourth with two runners in scoring position with two outs. But what should have been a bloop single down the first base line to plate both runners turned into an inning ending out with second baseman Hannah Fletcher making an outstanding catch in right field with her back turned the ball the entire way.
“I’ve always prided myself on our team defense,” Barrett said. “When we make those plays, it’s just a little tug on my heart.”
On the day, Harlow went 4 for 4 with three doubled, two RBI and two runs scored. Talley was 2 for 3 with three runs scored. Hudson was 2 for 4 with two RBI.
Needing just one win to qualify for the Division 4A tournament, the Lions will travel to Woodgrove on Wednesd at 6 p.m.
