EC advances to Friday showdown with Etowah after two wins on Thursday

COLUMBUS-The East Coweta Lady Indians began their quest for a state championship Thursday with a psir of victories on the opening day of the 2017 AAAAAAA Elite Eight Tournament at South Commons Softball Complex.

In the opener, Kelley Lynch allowed an infield single but recorded 13 strikeout in an 8-0 five inning victory over the Archer Lady Tigers and collected their 34th win of the season with a 6-1 victory over Kennesaw Mountain in the nightcap.

The Lady Indians will face the Etowah Lady Eagles in a Friday nigh contest at 6:00 with the winner advancing to the championship game on Saturday.

Etowah defeated Lowndes 6-2 to advance to the Friday showdown.

In the opener, EC scored four runs in bottom of the first as Lilly Agan tripled and came home on a single by Olivia Davis who stole second, moved to third base on a wild pitch and came home on a single by Lynch.

The Lady Indians took a 4-0 lead at the end of the frame as Ashlynn Gunter drilled a shot over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

The score held at 4-0 despite the Lady Indians attempting to add to the margin but Lady Tiger pitcher Kaylinn Berry was able to get the pitch need for the third out in the second and third innings.

However, Berry got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth as the Lady Indians added four more runs for the final margin.

Agan singled and advanced after Davis reached on an error and was able to score after a one out single by Gunter.

Vaughan followed the Gunter single by drilling a shot over the fence in center field for a three-run home run and victory was in hand as Lynch breezed through the top of the fifth inning with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out.

The nightcap did not start as easily as the morning contest as KM had the bases loaded with two outs but Vaughan was able to get of the situation with the second of nine strikeouts the senior lefty recorded.

In the top of the fourth inning, the scoreless tie was broken as Aniston Wright reached on a force play and moved to second on a sacrifice by Caison Byars and came home on a single to center field by Carmen Prior.
Prior scored the second run of the frame as she stole second and came home on double by Agan.
The Lady Mustangs got one of the runs back in the bottom of the frame as Boo Huddleston singled and scored on a groundout.
The 2-1 margin increased in the top of the fifth inning as Gunter reached on a one out single, stole second and after Vaughan walked and the second out of the frame was recorded, Wright hit a 2-0 offering over the fence for a three-run and a 5-1 lead.

Byars followed Wright's home run with a single to left field and stole second and took advantage of a throwing error by rounding the bases to the plate for the final run of the game.

The margin appeared to be enough for Vaughan who had the strikeout ball working as well as getting solid defensive efforts behind her.

In the bottom ofthe seventh inning, Vaughan ran into trouble by walking the first two batters in the frame necesitating a pitching change with Lynch who took over by striking out the first batters and ending the game with a flyball to Byars in left field.