Unaka held off a furious University High rally on Tuesday evening to keep the season alive.
The Lady Rangers took a 12-8 victory over UH in an elimination game in the District 1-A Softball Tournament at North Greene.
With the win, Unaka moves into Wednesday’s elimination game against Cloudland with a spot in the District 1-A Championship and Region 1-A tournament on the line.
After the Lady Bucs scored in the top of the first after Reece Wiliams put the ball in play and allowed Emma Linkous to score, Unaka came out rolling.
Brooklyn Campbell hit a single to open the frame and scored after Katlyn Dugger hit a single to center field. Dugger was able to score in the next at-bat after Mollie Buckles forced a UH error, and Kaci Bare plated the run with a single. That gave the Lady Rangers a 3-1 lead after an inning of play.
Neither team was able to get on the board again until the fourth.
Ariana Collins reached base by an error and Keidance Story and Campbell hit singles to load the bases with one out. In the next at-bat, Dugger hit a double to center field that plated two runs. Bare capped the scoring in the inning as she hit a two-out single that allowed Dugger and Campbell to score to give Unaka a 7-1 lead after four complete innings.
University High was able to get a run back in the fifth as Emma Chandley scored off a Williams hit, but the Rangers countered in the bottom of the fifth as Saylor Conner and Story scored off a Dugger triple.
Unaka maintained a 9-2 lead going to the sixth.
In the sixth, the Lady Bucs nearly had a two-out rally as they plated six runs in the frame to close the gap to 9-8 entering the bottom of the sixth.
The Lady Rangers, however, answered in a big way as Buckles launched a home run over the centerfield fence, and Devalynn Harter and Bare scored to secure the win for Unaka.
Bare was 3-for-4 with three RBI, and Dugger was 3-for-5 with five RBI to pace Unaka. Buckles had two hits and an RBi. Campbell and Harter both added two hits.
Collins finished with one hit and one RBI. Kimberly Profitt struck out nine batters in the pitching circle and allowed just two earned runs on nine hits.
Linkous led UH as she recorded two hits and three RBI.
