Lynch homers and tosses one-hitter in EC win over Newnan in Region tourney on her birthday

SHARPSBURG-The Newnan Lady Cougars had hopes of coming out of the losers bracket and winning the 2017 Region 2-AAAAAAA Tournament against their rival the East Coweta Lady Indians.

In the first game, the Lady Cougars achieved the feat as they broke open a close game with an 11 run fourth inning to defeat the Campbell Lady Spartans 14-1 in a game called after four and one-half innings.

The loss dropped Campbell to 8-19 on the season as they will travel to Kingsland to face The Camden County Lady Wildcats in the first round of the state playoffs next Friday as the region's third seed.

Next was the matchup that fans came to see and they weren't disappointed as Kelley Lynch of East Coweta celebrated her 17th birthday by outdueling Newnan pitcher Addie Andrews 3-0 in a championship game that ended in an unusual way.

The Lady Indians improved to 28-0 on the season have guaranteed home field for the state playoffs which will begin next Friday against an at large team.

The Lady Cougars fell to 22-4 with the loss and they will host a playoff series next Friday also against the Colquitt County Lady Packers.

Lynch started the game in a minor jam after retiring the first batter as Alex Williams reached on a walk and Lindsay Bloom single to give the Lady Cougars at getting on the scoreboard first.

However, Lynch didn't panic as she retired Ansley Houston on a flyball to Hanna Miller in Left field and ended the inning with the first of 15 strikeouts.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Indians threatened to get to Andrews early as Lilly Agan led off with a single and Olivia Davis followed with a single of her own.

However, Agan tried to advance to third on the play but Houston beat her to the third base bag and tagged her out.

Davis followed by trying to steal second but the umpires ruled that she left first early and called her out which set the stage for Lynch.
On a 2-1 offering from Andrews, Lynch delivered as she lined a shot over the center field fence for a solo home run and a 1-0 EC lead.
After a normal three strikeout inning by Lynch to retire the side in order in the top of the second, the Lady Indians added to the lead in the bottom of the frame as Rachel Vaughan led off with a single and Ansley Gunter followed by pulling Andrews’ 1-2 offering over the fence in Left fence for a two-run home run and a 3-0 lead.
That would conclude the offensive part of the game as Lynch was retiring batters via the strikeout route while Andrews was using a varying amounts of ways to keep the Lady Indians at bay.
The Lady Indians had a chance to add to the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning as Vaughan doubled and Ansley Gunter followed with a walk.
However, Andrews did not allow any further damage as she retired the next three batters to strand the twosome and go to the seventh inning.
After retiring 17 batters in a row, Lynch saw that streak end as Bloom reached on a walk and Houston reached on a throwing error that put both into scoring and brought Gracie Goodwin to the plate as the tying run.
Goodwin, who came into the game for an injured Danielle Curlee, was unable to solve Lynch as she went down on a strikeout for the first out.
Lynch retired Darby Keene on a pop to Davis at shortstop for the second out with Andrews coming to the plate representing the tying run.
With an 0-2 count, the Lady Cougar hurler was denied her chance to dent the scoreboard as Lynch threw to Ashlynn Gunter at third who threw to Caroline Lively at the plate to tag Bloom for the final out and give the Lady Indians the title.