Seven-run third gives Northgate win

     

The Northgate Lady Vikings scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning and had to hold off a seventh inning rally Monday to defeat the Newnan Lady Cougars 8-3 in a non-region matchup at the Northgate field.
Northgate improves to 4-2 while Newnan fell to 1-3.
The Lady Cougars had a chance to grab an early lead with one out in the top of the first inning against Lady Vikings starter McKenzie Peace as Maysen Willard and Chaycie Goggins reachedd on consecutive walks and Arden Jobe followed with a single.
However, Peace managed to recover as she induced a flyball to center by Lindsey Stewart and a groundout to shortstop by Lesley Davis.
The Lady Vikings also had a chance to score in the bottom of the first inning against Tori Loveless as Brenna Skalski reached on a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Carly Alderman and Jenna Pealor followed by reaching on a walk.
However, Loveless also found a way to escape trouble as she retired the next two batters on groundouts to end the threat.
Peace and Loveless also proved tough in the top of the second inning as both faced the minimum with Peace walking a batter but getting a caught stealing as catcher Brittany Futral threw a strike to Lady Vikings shortstop Casey Kent.
The top of the second inning also featured a little entertainment as play was stopped for a moment for a report of a lightning strike nearby.
However, it was determined that was not the guess and play resumed with only few drops during the game which made those in attendance happy after having several tournament games cancelled over the weekend.
After two scoreless frames and a weather delay, the Lady Cougars took the lead with one out in the top of the third as Willard lined a single off the glove of third baseman Alderman and Goggins reached on a walk.
The Northgate Lady Vikings scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning and had to hold off a seventh inning rally Monday to defeat the Newnan Lady Cougars 8-3 in a non-region matchup at the Northgate field.
Northgate improves to 4-2 while Newnan fell to 1-3.
The Lady Cougars had a chance to grab an early lead with one out in the top of the first inning against Lady Vikings starter McKenzie Peace as Maysen Willard and Chaycie Goggins reachedd on consecutive walks and Arden Jobe followed with a single.
However, Peace managed to recover as she induced a flyball to center by Lindsey Stewart and a groundout to shortstop by Lauren.
The Lady Vikings also had a chance to score in the bottom of the first inning against Tori Loveless as Brenna Skalski reached on a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Carly Alderman and Jenna Pealor followed by reaching on a walk.
However, Loveless also found a way to escape trouble as she retired the next two batters on groundouts to end the threat.
Peace and Loveless also proved tough in the top of the second inning as both faced the minimum with Peace walking a batter but getting a caught stealing as catcher Brittany Futral threw a strike to Lady Vikings shortstop Casey Kent.
The top of the second inning also featured a little entertainment as play was stopped for a moment for a report of a lightning strike nearby.
However, it was determined that was not the case and play resumed with only few drops during the game which made those in attendance happy after having several tournament games cancelledd over the weekend.
After two scoreless frames and a weather delay, the Lady Cougars took the lead with one out in the top of the third as Willard lined a single off the glove of third baseman Alderman and Goggins reached on a walk.
A groundout to second by Jobe moved the duo into scoring position and Stewart followed with a single to left that brought with the first run of the game.
Newnan took a 2-0 lead as Stewart stole second and Goggins was able to to score on a steal of home plate.
The lead didn't last as Northgate sent 12 batters to the plate with seven coming home to give them the lead.
Futral led off with a walk and Skalski reached on an infield error then courtesy runner Jessica Houk and Skalski both moved a base after Alderman was retired on a sacrifice bunt.
A single by Jenna Pealor scored Houk then Peace helped her own cause with a double that scored Skalski and Pealor to give the Lady Vikings a 3-2 lead.
Singles by Ebonee Echols and Casey Kent scored courtesy runner Jordan Hamilton then a pair of stolen bases and a throwing error led to another run for the Lady Vikings.
Another error in the field allowed Kent to score then with one out, Futral and Skalski had RBI singles to give the Lady Vikings a 7-2 lead.
The lead was enough for Peace to get through the next two innings allowing only a single before giving way to Brittany Trammell.
Through the first five innings, Peace allowed four hits and four walks while recording a single strikeout.
Trammell pitched a quality inning in the top of the sixth as she allowed only a single to Loveless who recovered in the third inning to get through the fourth and fifth innings before allowing a run in the bottom of the sixth on a single to Kyra Long.
Loveless allowed
In the top of the seventh inning, Trammell retired Lauren Ferguson on a groundout but got into trouble as Shania Colton and Willard reached on walks then Goggins loaded the bases on a single prompting head coach Lisa Skelton to leave the dugout.
Skelton made a pitching change as she removed and returned Peace to the game and the rally by the Lady Cougars was stalled as a groundout by Jobe scored Colton and Stewart became the final out of the game as she hit a grounder to second base.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Northgate 4, Newnan 2
The evening was a sweep for Northgate as Kaitlin Bailey and Caroline Cook combined to allow six hits over as many innings.
The Lady Vikings scored two runs in the bottom of the first and added two more in the bottom of the second to account for their scoring while the Lady Cougars scored twice in the top of the fourth.
Morgan Runyans had two hits and Caitlyn Cain had one hit for Northgate with each scoring a run while Frances Arnall had an RBI single and KT Heggood had an RBI triple.