Unaka used a strong sixth inning to pull away from a pesky Cloudland squad.
The Lady Rangers took a 9-4 victory over Cloudland in the District 1-A Softball tournament on Stoney Creek on Monday afternoon after scoring four runs in the sixth inning.
With the win, Unaka advanced to Wednesday’s Winner’s Bracket finale against North Greene, while the Lady ‘Landers will take on Hampton in an elimination game.
Unaka got on the board in the bottom of the first as Trinity Bowers hit a single that plated Haley Taylor and Kylie Blevins, while Mattie Salyer hit a double to drive Mollie Buckles across the plate.
Unaka held a 3-0 lead after the first inning.
Cloudland, however, answered in the next frame as Layken Blair hit a single to right field that allowed Ella Benfield to score from second.
Neither team was able to score in the third.
Cloudland cut into the Unaka lead once again in the fourth as Blair put the ball in play to push Benfield to score, but CHS was unable to keep the inning going.
Blevins extended the lead for Unaka in the home side of the inning as a double to center field scored Taylor, and Blevins scored after Jill Faust hit a single to push the Unaka lead to 5-2.
The Lady ‘Landers continued to battle as Savannah McCoury scored off a Ryan Turbyfill sac fly, and Kendall Birchfield scored off a Benfield double to pull the Lady ‘Landers back within one heading to the sixth.
Unaka got things going in the bottom of the sixth with four runs to take control and then held Cloudland at bay in the seventh to secure the win.
Taylor was 3-for-4 at the plate for Unaka, while Blevins, Faust, Buckles, and Salyer each had two hits.
Benfield led CHS with two hits and an RBI, while Blair had two RBI and a hit.
Birchfield and McCoury also had a hit for Cloudland.
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