Elizabethton held off a late Unicoi charge on Monday night.
The Lady Cyclones advanced into the District 1-3A Winners’ Bracket final with a 7-4 win over Unicoi County on Monday night in Erwin.
With the win, Elizabethton will take on Volunteer on Wednesday at 7p with a spot in Friday’s championship and the Region 1-3A tournament on the line. The Lady Blue Devils moved into Thursday’s losers’ bracket semifinal.
After the first two innings went scoreless, Elizabethton broke on the board first as Maely Ingram scored off an Ember Jensen single.
The Lady Cyclones added to the lead as Grace Whaley scored of a Unicoi error, and Cheyenne Poiroux hit a two-run homerun with two outs to push the lead to 4-0.
The Lady Blue Devils battled back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Elizabethton answered as Ingram hit a triple to score Emma O’Quinn and Whaley, and Poiroux put the ball in play that allowed Ingram to score as EHS took a 7-2 into the bottom of the sixth.
Unicoi scored two runs in the home side of the inning and had the tying run at the plate, but EHS held strong to limit the damage.
The Lady Cyclones saw Unicoi put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but a strikeout secured the game for Elizabethton.
Lela Byrd had three hits for EHS, while O’Quinn, Jensen, Poiroux, and Ingram each had two hits.
Poiroux had three RBI or Elizabethton.
In the circle, Byrd picked up the win as she allowed just two earned runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts.
