Lady Cats Hold Off Lawrence County

Tullahoma shortstop Madi Goad slammed an opposite-field home run with two outs in the first inning, sparking the Tullahoma Lady Cats to an 8-7 District 8-AAA softball win over Lawrence County Thursday night in Lawrenceburg.

Tullahoma (4-1, 9-5) has won eight consecutive games after starting the season 1-5. The Lady Cats will host Giles Co. in a district contest Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. LIVE on 93.9 The Duck.

The Lady Cats built an 8-2 lead and seemed to be cruising to the victory until Lawrence Co. rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull within one. Junior pitcher Amaya Sharp (8-2) struck out LC’s Libby Burks with a runner on third to end the contest.

The win redeemed the Lady Cats from their 16-6 loss at home to Lawrenceburg on March 11.

Goad’s homer is her eighth of the season, and the program-best 28th of her sparkling career. It sparked the Lady Cats as they rallied for four more runs in the first without another hit. A pitch hit Kaitlyn Gattis, Avanly Metcalf walked, KK Campbell reached on an error, and Aleigha Raby did the same. Add a couple of passed balls, and the Lady Cats led 5-0.

Leading 5-1, AC Holloway walked to open the second inning, and Goad drove her home with a double, her 12th of the season. Tullahoma added a run in the fifth when Metcalf led off with a double and scored on Ellie Simpson’s RBI single. The eighth run came in the sixth as Kylee Holt walked, stole second, stole third, and scored on a Gattis groundout.

Lawrence County scored one in the sixth and five in the seventh to make it close, but Tullahoma sealed the deal with the strikeout.

Sharp scattered 11 hits and walked four while striking out four. Tullahoma had eight hits, walked seven times, and was hit by two pitches.

Goad is now hitting .636 with 28 hits and 39 runs batted in. She leads the state of Tennessee in both home runs and RBIs.